Robot-Doc, That is too funny, I just tried searching for this robot after my wife told me it was on TV. I did not get to see its movements. I could not find it till I looked on EZ Robot!

It's movements weren't that great. Walking was rolling on wheels. To be honest I've seen much better bots on here by "beginners".

Some shots for inspiration etc.

Lol, it's mouth looks like it was made for the "adult" industry.

It's sad to see robots like that - specifically without many identifiable use. The trouble with using boring and ugly robots in media is it programs people to think that's what robots are. We're an exceptional company doing a great deal more than everyone else!

What a terrible looking robot lol

Wouldn't you rather see one of these EZ-Robots?

The body looks ok...but the head design is crapola. But I guess they were trying to make something funny looking?

It looks like the work of this guy

cbswzlx2.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/animatronic-baby.jpg?w=420

There must have been a short time period to get this out the door and on the studio floor. Idk. I think my expectations for a highly rated sitcom may be too high. For a DIY project, it isnt too bad. He should've consulted with us first. ;)

Wow , that little dude looks like a rushed science project. Lol its probably just a plug and play rc Rx too. I was eyeballing the frame wondering how anything could move besides the wheels on the base. I would have been more excited to see topo with a Microsoft Sam voice lol.

If it was a individual I would rush to his ( or her) aid in making a better robot body. :)

Being in the industry I'll chime in here. Yes usually gags like this in a sit com have very little money and even less time to build. Usually a week or less. A lot of these things end up being a mashup of things a shop might have from a previous commercial, etc ,etc. Usually these are animatronics, not a real robot. That is, there are puppeteers running all the parts off camera by remote control, voice etc.

That said I agree with DJ on the point about boring robots. Changes in that opinion are coming in the next few months. Stay tuned.

Totally accept that sitcoms have zero budget for "effects" - since it's not their thing. However, given that it is ashton Kutcher (the Hollywood king of tech startups)... I expected more :)

Specifically since I would wonder if that robot has anything to do with one of his startup investments

Lol! That would be a bad investment indeed!

@fxrtst I have a few friends in that biz, and damn do these shows demand a lot...impossible time frame, with near-zero budget. I had a friend who did something for Conan O'Brien for dirt cheap with a literal 8 hour deadline.

@DJ Good point there...might be a friend builder that Ashton is helping out, or an investment. But that doesn't change the probably short deadline and no budget scenario. I personally think the robot is not that bad, as you would all make it out to be. It just needs some fine tuning, and a better designer with a vision. Most "visionaries" work on a no budget scenario, its actually what brings out creativity, you know "necessity" is the mother of invention. Modern tools and a lot of cash to play around with is nice, but not always good, as it makes you lazy and dependent on everything rather than using your brain to build ideas. :D

@doombot good points. I guess I'm a little sensitive about how robots are portrayed to people these days. There are so many oldschool "robot" companies and groups (arduino stuff, parallax, lego, etc) selling and presenting robots as clunky, non-functional, impersonal, and hard to use.

When robots have the opportunity to get some social awareness, they usually end up a disappointment to us EZ-Robot users. Because we are used to amazing robotics with amazing potential.

The funny thing is, the writers of that show could have googled to find EZ-Robot and asked to borrow one of your robots for the episode. There are dozens of robots on this website built by community members which are much more appealing and functional than the one they used.

Who knows.... maybe an EZ-Robot would inspire a multi episode character on a show like Big Bang Theory :)

There is an interesting fact, that the ugly robot got serious airtime - goes to show that any of your EZ-Robot users could also be in the same position if you spoke out. It's great to be proud of your achievements. It shows there is benefit to sharing and posting your robot around the internet to draw attention to it. Who knows where it'll end up!

@DJ

There is this guy Adam Savage who used to be on a show called "MythBusters" that purchased some original castings of the T-800 from T2...he put all this time and effort and pretty much ended up completing a very nice poseable T-800. Pretty impressive until he mentioned in the video, that "in the future" he may use an "arduino" to make the eyes "Light Up". That made me giggle, thinking the dude from "MythBusters" doesn't really know what's already out there...especially since a simple search engine would unlock so many possibilities...for his T-800...

This guy is really high profile, maybe he needs to discover EZ-Robot? hmmmm :D

Here's the video:

youtu.be/aKflhTrRh2k

I dunno, I kinda though is was ok.

@doombot, Idk. Adam is only wants it to light it's eyes and follow someone. (Albeit only via a motion sensor and not camera tracking like EZB). Arduino might be good for a single purpose thing like that. However if he wants to truly bring it to life then he needs to put in an order for the EZB. Actually, someone like him should already getting one for free. He could promote the EZB via his you-tube channel to a great number of ppl