This came from the ACPL’s Innovation Through Technology Blog.

ACPL Youth Services Tag Cloud from Kaygraphic on Vimeo.
Check it out!

~Susan Mellott

Twendy-One, named as a 21st century edition of a previous robot, Wendy, has soft hands and fingers that gently grip, enough strength to support humans as they sit up and stand, and supple movements that respond to human touch.

It can pick up a loaf of bread without crushing it, serve toast and help lift people out of bed.

The robot is a little shorter than an average Japanese woman at 1.5 m (5 ft), but heavy-set at 111 kg (245 lb). Its long arms and a face shaped like a giant squashed bean mean it resembles the alien movie character E.T.

Here is the website for Twendy-One. It is mostly in japanese, but has videos of Twendy-One performing various tasks.

So I went to YouTube to see if there were other videos of Twendy-One, or other robots. I found this video of a montage of Japanese robots.

And this video of the LandWalker Robot Suit:

And I love this one of Robots Fighting. It is so cute!

And here is a totally cool robot toy ROBOZAK RZ-1 that it looks like you can build yourself? Watch it’s amazing moves. For some reason it is not displaying in my post, but follow the link to view it in action.

Here is a video of and a link to the Humanoid Robot Project: Promet MK-II, very cool. The HRP-3 Promet Mk-II is a blue-collar android tough enough to trudge through heavy rains, carry out disaster relief operations and work in environments hazardous to humans. The robot was unveiled on June 21, 2006 at Kawada Industries headquarters in Tochigi prefecture, Japan, where it showed of its ability to operate power tools and walk on slippery surfaces.:

And last but not least, here is a picture (and the set of pictures) from our local ACPL Shawnee Library branch of their Sumo Robot building and testing from their teen robot program.

Pretty cool, huh?!

~Susan Mellott

While he was there, Sean Robinson and Kay Gregg, who have been creating the “Conversation with” youtube series of conversations with influential people in the library and web 2.0 field, videotaped a conversation with Stephen Abram. They have finished the editing and have just released this interesting video with Stephen Abram talking about his lifelong fascination and love of libraries and library science.

~Susan Mellott

Out of over 175 public, school and academic libraries that submitted videos for the “I Love My Library!” video contest, Sean and Kay’s video was selected as one of the 5 finalists.

The winner was revealed at the annual ALA (American Library Association) conference. Unfortunately, the ACPL video did not win (though it was certainly the funniest, although the others were also good). However, it did get many, many more views than any of the other finalists!

And who doesn’t love a zombie video? Especially one set in a Library! So just in time for Halloween, I present to you: Reference Zombies!

~Susan Mellott

They are currently editing a set of YouTube videos interviewing Jeff Krull, the Director of the Allen County Public Library. In my post called “Conversation with Jeff Krull, Director of the Allen County Public Library” I blogged about the first video. They have just released Part II of Conversations with Jeff Krull.

In Part II, Jeff talks about books and authors that have left an impression on him. He talks about All Quiet on the Western Front, Autobiography of Ben Franklin and The Red Badge of Courage. He mentions authors like Mark Twain (Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer) and Hawthorne.

It is fascinating to hear his thoughts on influential books and authors and the impressions they made on him.

And Sean and Kay have done a beautiful and artistic job of filming and editing their Conversation YouTube videos. They are done in black and white and in letterbox.

They have also recorded an interview with Stephen Abrams and will be creating a set of Conversation with Stephen Abram next. And they have plans to interview and create YouTube Conversation videos with other people who are interesting and influential in the library field.

Here is Part II of Conversation with Jeff Krull, Director of the Allen County Public Library. Enjoy!

~Susan Mellott