Monday, December 3, 2007
Neiman Marcus holiday window display features UTA robots
Neiman Marcus is borrowing Mom, Dad and Junior (all robots) from UT Arlington’s robotics facility to help decorate its tree for the holidays.
Photo from UTA
Owing to the absence of robot genitals, the identity of this robot cannot be determined.
UT Arlington’s Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC) provided technology and tooling for the 2007 Neiman Marcus holiday window display at the downtown Dallas location, 1618 Main St. TMAC Automation Specialists Dr. Raul Fernandez, Dr. Heather Beardsley, Richard Bergs and UTA Industrial Engineering student Juan Paramo spent several days and nights days fine-tuning the precision project.
The holiday window display launched on Nov. 16 with comments from Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and an appearance of Santa via jet pack. The project includes a 15-foot tall tree of aluminum rings with a rotating base. Two rotating feeder trees provide varying sizes of round ornaments.
The ornaments are picked and placed by a “family” of robotic arms: Mom, Dad and Junior robots. They also communicate via cue cards, including one from Junior in which he daydreams about being a graduate of UT Arlington. The display will run at the Dallas flagship store until the Jan. 1.
Within UTA, TMAC is a department of the College of Engineering’s Automation & Robotics Research Institute. Call Deborreh Wallace at (817) 272-5922 for more information.
Posted by Chad
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You've lost me as a customer, Neiman Marcus. I refuse to shop at a place where transsexual murderous robots run amock.
I still have a scar from last time.
Pavel Lishin Verified
1 year, 11 months ago
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We've been hearing from several UTA folks unhappy with our URL and cutline. Probably fearing that readers like Pavel would get the wrong idea. (Regular readers know he would concoct the wrong idea if we didn't give it to him.)
Latest communique from a UTA staffer via email:
This article has a bad url and crude window text re robot sex organs. I work with the University of Texas and people are very upset particularly the ones that loaned us the robots.
As I usually do in this situation, I point you to a discussion of how we approach news less-than-seriously around here:
http://www.pegasusnews.com/blogs/pega...
Apparently, they never saw this either:
<a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=7424536">Saturday Night Live-Old Glory Robot Insurance</a><br><embed flashvars="m=7424536&v=2&type=video" height="346" src="http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="430"><br><a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.addToProfileConfirm&videoid=7424536&title=Saturday Night Live-Old Glory Robot Insurance">Add to My Profile</a> | <a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.home">More Videos</a>
Mike Orren Staff
1 year, 11 months ago
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Is this the time to make a plea for organ donation?
Rawlins Gilliland Verified
1 year, 11 months ago
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And yet, despite the many calls and emails, no one has offered to return to that poor robot its identity or gender.
Chad Jones Verified
1 year, 11 months ago
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Do they have any of these:
www.seizurerobots.com ?
Sorry, I had to.
DC Anonymous
1 year, 11 months ago
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You know, to be fair, if I built a robot and people couldn't tell its gender, I'd be offended, too.
Which is why I guarantee that any robot I build will have massive, prominent genitalia that border on the obscene.
Pavel Lishin Verified
1 year, 11 months ago
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More from UTA: <hr> Hi Mike,
We spoke yesterday regarding the article you posted about the Neiman Marcus Window Robots. If you have a moment, I would greatly appreciate it if you would change the caption. How about something like this instead:
When asked about hanging ornaments, the robot replied, “It beats making cars.” Or In a tough job market, Robots resort to seasonal work.
As an organization within UTA, we are not working for a profit; we are working to strengthen the local economy. This kind of caption builds bad will with our partners such as Neiman Marcus, Technology MFGs, and the Office for the Fair and Equal Treatment of Robots (OFETR). Okay maybe not the latter, but it makes my job tougher and judging by the comments posted about this article (zero), I’d say it wouldn’t detract from your readership but would significantly add value on our end.
If you’re feeling exceptionally generous, the URL Robots Kill You, is not funny and could benefit from a change. Robots are our friends.
Thanks for your time,
Ed
Edward Latson Marketing
Mike Orren Staff
1 year, 11 months ago
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All kidding aside here; if you have to explain what snarky means, you can't.
This reminds me of when I was recording in the local KERA/NPR studio with the All Things Considered network NPR producers on headphones in Washington DC.
One of them asked me to change the following line that read in my piece (which was about 'when in Rome' adaptability to other people's cultures, blah blah blah): "When someone moves to Dallas and complains, for instance, 'You can't get a decent bagel in Dallas', my reply is, "Nor I a decent enchilada in Tel Aviv".
The producer told me to change that city name to Cairo because "C words are funnier"...adding, "Trust me.... I've researched it and words that start with a C are funnier ".
Rawlins Gilliland Verified
1 year, 11 months ago
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I agree that the caption should be changed. I propose the following: "UTA Robots Play with Balls at Neiman Marcus."
Scott Anonymous
1 year, 11 months ago
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i like that guy ed's suggestions about the auto assembly line and the seasonal work. Today a Christmas decorator, tomorrow back to picking fruit. altho - would that mean that the robots are taking jobs away from illegal immigrants? might be better to go with a star-wars theme
Teresa Gubbins Staff
1 year, 11 months ago
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Apparently Ed didn't see his school's (very poor) rendition of <a href="http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/nov/12/theater-review-rur-rossums-universal-robots/">Rossum's Universal Robots</a>. If there's one thing I walked away with, it's that robots will eventually be our downfall...and I should kill them before they kill me.
Rawlins, I would like to see said research on C-words being funnier than T-words.
Scott Doyle Verified
1 year, 11 months ago
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Doyle, that producer dismissed my inquiries regarding 'C' words being funnier, snarling, 'there's a reason I have this job!' Ever the diplomat gent that I am, I hesitated to ask him how he did his job face down. PS: He has since been replaced with an inflatable robot.
Rawlins Gilliland Verified
1 year, 11 months ago
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Doyle, UTA is not UTD. I will not have you besmirching ... uh ... well, I'm sure one of the universities is embarassed to be mistaken for the other, anyway.
And I appreciate a guy who both works with robots and has a glimmer of a sense of humor. I guess as long as I have Mr. Latson's word that I will not be murdered or molested by his diabolical (and possible orphan-powered?) machinery, I might stop by Neiman Marcus and say something positive, like, "Gee wiz, ain't that somethin'."
Pavel Lishin Verified
1 year, 11 months ago
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Oh, my sincere apologies to whoever is QQing most.
Scott Doyle Verified
1 year, 11 months ago
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