One always feels a strange sense of thrill while watching things being destroyed.
This destructive nature is inherently human, but can be channelized towards constructive activities as well, like watching trash being destroyed. Dr. R.E. Cycler is a cool entertainment robot which satieties your need for destruction albeit in a constructive and environmentally friendly manner. The robot has been built by Florida Robotics and helps you to crush aluminium cans and reduced to less than an inch in size while the can passes through the bot’s digestive and excretory system. It has been built to teach kids about how important it is to reduce, recycle and reuse and could be an example of robots that serve the purpose of infotainment.
In my opinion, it is also a great way to learn about the digestive system, as the can passes through its mouth, oesophagus, stomach (where the crushing takes place) and excretory system through which the reduced can comes out. Kids can not only learn about environmental hazards of leaving aluminium cans not recycled but they can also have fun while learning eco-friendliness and a little bit of biology at the same time. Dr. R.E. Cycler also comes with solar panels on top of its head but it is not clear what it can actually do.
If you looked at the video, you would realize that the crushing of the can takes place slowly and not as vigorously and aggressively as your destructive-self might have liked.
One of the reasons could be that the robot uses energy from the solar panel, which is not enough for flamboyant destruction of aluminium cans. You could also take a look at Homonculus Instructable, which is a wooden robot that has been built with recycled materials. If you are more tech-savvy and would like something different, the iPad Touch Robot allows you to groove with it, as it taps it feet to music.
