If a Gremlin had sex with a bird, then decided to have a threesome with Keepon, then a Furby wandered by delivering a pizza and getting in on the action, this would be their bastard lovechild. It’s name is TOFU, a “squash and stretch” robot with OLED eyes developed by the boffins at the MIT Media Lab.

Tofu uses techniques of social expression that have been employed by 2D animators for ages, to explore the impact on robotics. One thing is for sure. That bot knows how to groove and puts most humans to shame with it’s dancing skills. The video above shows off his moves, which are strangely very pimp-like.

This game looks familiar. Except now you can really score a kill. Well, not really. But it’s as close as some of you will ever get to killing a flying duck. Available this spring, the Duck Hunter is like a WowWee Dragonfly mashed up with the classic Duck Hunt lightgun shooting game.

The duck launches from your IR blaster, charging in just 10 seconds from a few AA batteries in the pistol. When the robotic duck takes flight autonomously, just shoot the bird three times. Robot duck death will follow.

Much like the Rovio, the WowWee Spyball spy camera will let you live out some James Bond fantasies. Or at the very least snap some upskirt pics. The tiny remote controlled robotic ball features built-in Wi-Fi connectivity and gets around on sleek wheels, capable of smooth mobility and quick 360-degree turns.

It can also transform from a ball to a camera and back within seconds, and it does it’s job quietly, so you can sneak around and get some dirt on people. The blackmail will follow. Another cool feature is that when it’s connected to a home network, the Spyball can be controlled remotely via the Internet.

As always, WowWee has some new robots up it’s sleeve, despite branching out into other products. They look interesting as ever. What I like about their robots is that they actually infuse them with some personality.

In this case, Joebot is the large guy. A dancing rhythm robot that responds to beats. He’s the life of the party. The Roborover explorer on the other hand, starts out shy and gets bolder over time. I love the design on these guys. Full press release below.

Obviously this is a marketing gimmick. But ask yourself, are these robot watches more awesome than your typical watch? Hell yes. Casio’s 25 years of G-Shock celebration continues with the offering of a new set of character watches designed by Shiro Nakano.

Now that I’ve given you the good news, it’s time for the bad. These robot characters themselves are not available for sale. And yes, that’s a big mistake, because they are amazingly cool. They would make great desktop clocks. And good robot clocks are hard to find. Ask any robo-enthusiast.

This Dalek Christmas tree is scary. Scary because it’s a Dalek and scary because it’s so silly and bizarre that my brain has no idea how to process it. It was created by Minnesotan Lindsey Testolin and features a lot of flashing lights, no sense of style or attitude, some bulb ornaments on the base, and I hope they have a spare laundry basket or he’s gonna lose his neck.

If Doctor Who was a DIY production, this would be an actual screen cap of the Christmas special. Regardless of it’s ragtag DIY look, it warms our cold geek hearts. Video below.

There’s still some time left to find cool robot gifts for Xmas. Behold The Botropolis 2008 Christmas gift guide, fresh from our robot site Botropolis. We have you covered.

Everything from robot ornaments, to talking Dalek alarm clocks, to robot kits you can build yourself, to T-shirts. Fear the one’s that scientists are building, but love the one’s that you can buy, that’s our motto. Hit the link for all kinds of robot gifts fit for any stocking.

Mamoru is a small elder-care robot created by the University of Tokyo that sort of resembles an old granny, complete with little plastic bun. It’s designed to help the elderly or disabled remember where they left their remote control or their slippers, and even offers polite reminders when it’s time to take their medicine. Mamoru recognizes objects by using a wide-angle camera to study the room. Image recognition software tells it what each object is, so it knows where everything is.

Why do we need creepy robots to look after our elderly? Do they not already fear one creature known as the Grim Reaper? Are we trying to creep them into the grave? No. No we are not. There are simply not enough caregivers compared to the number of those who need care. So, we must take our chances and hope that these robots do not torment them and start hiding the meds rather then helping to find them.

The dudes at the Mutoid Waste Company just need 3 more of these beasts, then they can roam the future wastelands as the Four Robo-dog-men of the Apocalypse, spreading fire and carnage wherever they ride and fulfilling prophecies.

For now they have one. These guys love them some scrap metal and Larry is their latest creation to crawl out of the gates of the workshop and onto the streets of London, breathing fire with each step forward. See the bot in action below.

Roomba owners should really shut their bots off before leaving their house and arming the alarm system. Here’s why. A Roomba in a Denmark home got all hopped up on dust and dirt and tripped the motion sensors. It was just jonesin’ to snort some debris while its owners were out on the town.

The alarm was tripped, and the authorities were automatically phoned. They arrived to see that the little bot had gorged itself in a shameless and lonely orgy of filth. Otherwise all was well.

It’s about time HAL had feet, but it may not be the smartest thing to give this unbalanced bot that much mobility. Sure, he’s cute and made of paper, but make no mistake, he still would prefer humans dead. This time it won’t be by shutting off cryogenic chambers and watching humans drift off into space. This time, he’ll use cuteness to get you close and paper cuts to finish you off. If you choose to print and assemble this papercraft version, there will be blood.

What else do you have to do? Might as well watch a cat riding a Roomba. It’s probably waiting to be dropped off near the food dish.

In the video above, this gigantic ALCNON humanoid robot picks a fight with a miniature opponent, showing off a combination of his swift punches and dance moves. The little bot is pretty scrappy and comes at him again and again, sadly to no avail. It’s all pretty sad, yet strangely satisfying.

Despite ALCNON having a name that sounds like a substance abuse meeting, he’s presumably pretty adapt at picking on robots his own size, not that you’d know it from this video. He sports a creepy cyclops eye, and two pincers for hands. ALCNON was a big star at the recent ROBO-ONE robot battle in Japan.

We would all like to have our own robot. And hey, it’s a bonus if that robot doubles as a cool CNC router. We’ll here’s your opportunity to build your own six legged robot with an attached CNC router for a head. Check out this awesome demo video that shows off the robots mobility while it carves a super detailed 3d human face.

I think this solves the mystery of that huge face on Mars. Somewhere out there, some alien is controlling a gigantic robo-router for their own amusement. The awesome thing is that you can build your own version. The site is selling kits with everything you need. Soon you too can make detailed human heads of your very own.

The above footage is real. You will no doubt remember it in the middle of the night when you wake up in a cold sweat from one of your robot nightmares. These hexapod ‘bots will use their awesome moves to dance on our graves and celebrate and make musicals when we are gone. All while dressed up like bees, pimps and other strange Mario world looking characters. We are so screwed. Thank you Dancing Hexapods 2008, for providing a brief glimpse of our coming demise.