It all comes down to today: the final day in the most unbelievable battle ever. It’s the final day to earn yourself an official championship belt, using only your mouse. And at the end of today, one bot will be the ultimate victor.

Ro-Bros closes down for good at 10pm tonight, so get your punches in while you can. Thank you, battle testers!

After months of brewing, a battle has broken out inside the Real Art walls. Now you can choose a side and jump in.

Through rounds of covert testing, both prototypes have proven themselves. At Ro-bros.com, you control one of these incredible fighting bots. With your keyboard. And you can watch the whole bout go down in a live feed on the site.

We were shooting for an experience every bit as out there as The Santa Claw, but different … and maybe even more crazy. So we wired up these two Ro-Bros to pick up online commands and attached sensors that measure the force of each blow dealt. In our battle arena, you’re fighting against another online opponent, so start mapping out your strategy now.

Experience the battle for yourself at www.ro-bros.com.

We’re honored to be in today’s Dayton Daily News’ List of Top Workplaces for 2012. Real Art is featured as one of the Top 30 Small Companies, with an especially high score in the “New Ideas” category.

So what makes it such a joy to work here? Is it the space, the projects, the people? Our Chief Awesomeness Officer, Libby Shillito, thinks it’s all of the above, “We’re a unique workplace in the sense of our culture. We’re trying to constantly push ourselves. It’s a team environment.”

The Top Workplaces Profile lines up a few of the things that make Real Art different. Here’s one of our favorite quotes:

It’s always great to work on projects that are packed full of purpose, and the Cincinnati Children’s Annual Report is just that. It’s one of our favorite annual projects at Real Art, not only because the end product is a unique, tangible piece, but because we get to work with so many great people along the way—to name a few: Writer and Project Director, Bea Katz; Photographer, Ryan Kurtz; and the people at Wendling Printing.

This year’s annual report, themed Field of Vision, features several stories emphasizing the hospital’s effort to improve the outcome for children with (or at risk for) kidney injury. The annual highlights ways in which Cincinnati Children’s is taking the lead through important discoveries in the research lab, innovative clinical activities, and inspiring patient stories that demonstrate the hospital’s vision. Stunning photography puts the patients front and center, while soft color and clean typography support the theme visually, moving readers throughout this impactful annual report.

Hi there! My name is Ethan Muller. I’ll be an extern at Real Art for the next three weeks (14 days if you want to get technical). As you can see in my picture, I’m pretty excited about it. I’m a student at the School of Advertising Art in Dayton, and if all goes according to plan, I’ll graduate at the end of next May. That’s exciting, too.

Here’s more stuff about me:

• I’m from a little town in Ohio called Sunbury. It’s about half an hour north of Columbus. Sunbury is not very exciting.
• I like music. Listening to it and making it. I like a bunch of genres, but mostly indie and electronic. I play guitar, and I dabble in drums, keyboard, and synth.
• I have a blob-shaped birthmark on my right hand. Unfortunately, this eliminates being a hand model from my career options.
• My favorite TV show of all time is Arrested Development. If you like Arrested Development, tell me. That way we can quote it all the time and talk about how it should still be on television.
• I don’t like movies as much as normal people do, but my favorite movies are Fight Club, Hot Rod, and Mary & Max.
• I once pet a wolf.
• I started in computer graphics around the age of 5 on my family’s titanic Gateway computer with MS Paint. I got my start in HTML/CSS thanks to the online game Neopets. Make fun of me if you want.

And now you have a solid knowledge of me. I’m totally excited to be a part of the Real Art crew. Thanks for the opportunity!

We’re looking for a “Printern” to join our Dayton team. What’s a Printern, you ask? Well, it’s a print design intern who gets the awesome opportunity to work with our amazing print team. The Printernship is a paid opportunity and requires a 3-month commitment—25-40 hour per week—beginning in mid-February. 

As Real Art’s Printern, you’ll focus on the production side of print design (with the potential for some opportunities to do design work). You should have either completed or be close to completing your college curriculum and have a portfolio that demonstrates design talent and creativity. You should also have an advanced knowledge of design software programs, such as Adobe CS (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, etc.), and feel comfortable working in both a Microsoft Windows and Macintosh environment. You must have good organizational and time management skills and have the ability to juggle multiple projects and meet deadlines. You must be a team player and be able to work collaboratively with other members of the Real Art staff. You must be able to take constructive criticism and share constructive input. Most importantly, as the Real Art Printern, you must like to have fun! At Real Art we like to have a lot of fun at work, especially when we are all busy. Our philosophy is to “Enjoy—it brings better creativity and productivity!”

To apply, email your resume and portfolio to HR@realartusa.com. Bad attitudes need not apply.

Remember last year, when we built the world’s largest claw game and invited everyone to play online? The response was amazing—over 100,000 people played from all over the world. The Santa Claw even spent a week in the Gizmodo Gallery in NYC. Since we packed it all up, people have been asking what’s next. 

Well, this year the Real Art team is elbows-deep in advanced robotic engineering. In our secret underground lab, we have been developing devices decades ahead of our time. We are finally ready to reveal The Ro-Bros, developed side by side with technology never before seen outside our labs. Our two prototypes are formidable machines, each with incredible force and precision. Plus, they’re 100% B.A.

But only one of the Ro-Bros can reign supreme. To determine the winner, we need your help.

On February 1, 2012, we will release the Ro-Bros to the public for their final test… the Ro-Bros will be controlled by you in a three-week battle at Ro-Bros.com. If our calculations are correct, it’ll be epic.

Follow the Ro-Bros on Facebook or Twitter for further notices and start training your fingers to hit those arrow keys because on 2.1.12, it’s time to put up your virtual dukes and throw down, Ro-Bros style.

This year, in addition to a book, Razorfish wanted to cast a really wide net, making the articles easily accessible on any device and encouraging readers to share and comment on what they had read. We pitched and then developed a flexible, optimized site that loads quickly and takes advantage of the device’s screen size. Users can share via their favorite social media platforms and we’re pulling Twitter hashtags to augment each article’s content. Additionally, readers of the printed piece can scan QR codes embedded in the articles to get related, online content on their tablets and phones, enriching the printed experience.

We have a little bit of huge news to share: The Santa Claw—the ginormous claw game we built for everyone to play on the web—was just listed in the 2012 Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition as the Largest Claw Machine (Ever). 

The book is available now at guinnessworldrecords.com.

Our team paused for a second to celebrate this great start to 2012, then got straight back to work on our next launch, the top-secret Project B.A.

[photo by C.Wire]

Now that the holidays are over, the Kmart Fab 15 program is officially a wrap. To celebrate, the Real Art Multimedia Team has released a behind-the-scenes look at the process behind their biggest video project of 2011. Check it out!