Well, this is just brilliant. Dr. Colin Mayhew, a British engineer, made a robot out of a Mini Cooper. Oddly, it's not designed to fight other robots, but with a more benign application in mind:
"I always believed a robot would be the most natural complement to the automobile - a full biped, intelligent version having great strength, dexterity and a library of mechanical knowledge. I imagined a robot with the ability to repair vehicles, direct traffic and watch over high-accident crossroads to preempt accidents."
If I designed that thing, it would have a laser torch, mace hoses for crowd control, and retractable 40 mm grenade launchers. Fortunately for mankind I don't have a technical bone in my body. Fortunately for mankind, Dr. Mayhew has a sense of ethics to match his mechanical genius, and just wants his giant robot to help motorists. (?)
Go check it out HERE. If you scroll down, you can watch the creepy visual tracking video and the impressive car stopping video, wherein the Autobot stops a moving car by grabbing it. It's totally Airwolf - even cooler than the Plustech Forest Walker, if such a thing is possible.
OR... it could be an elaborate hoax and part of a Mini Cooper viral marketing campaign and I could be a total sucker.
Um. As a major plastic crack addict I gotta say this is about as desktop cgi looking as I've ever seen. Well done yes but even the Japanese don't have this level of robotics yet.
ReplyDeleteAnd since I work in scientific publishing I would have thought that this kind of info would have made it into some form of engineering journal or somesuch.
I think its a fun hoax.
Hm- is there some special apparatus to reach up to rub the giant sticker on its chest to determine exactly what its allegiance is?
ReplyDeleteSigh. Unfortunately they're right. Its part of a mini-cooper "viral marketing" ad campaign:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Top_2004_Hoaxes/comments/1636/
Still cool-looking though. They put some effort into the write-up, but the sketches look like something an art student would put together instead of the scribblings of your average engineer ;)
A HOAX??? Ahh.. That's just what the government wants you to think!
ReplyDeleteImagine the wacky high stakes robberies against former friends who have betrayed you that you could commit with this car.
ReplyDeleteFriends, this is not a hoax. In fact I know a robot who (not which) can transform into a jet fighter. He is really good at chess and of a very pleasant demeanour. In my eyes, it seems very plausible that an American team would build a robot traffic cop.
ReplyDeleteGod damn it, it's REAL!
ReplyDeleteOK, maybe not. In the video the robot casts a shadow but the Land Rover doesn't. Unless they used a vampire Land Rover...
OK, but the Plustech Forest Walker - that's real. Right?
The hilarity gold link of the month:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/dmbpq
A talkback re: the comunism & Che at newsarama
'hilarity gold' is a registered trademark, belonging to an obscure troupe of japanese comedians.
ReplyDeleteAll we have to do is wait to see if it teams-up with Spider-Man. Then we'll know if it's real or not.
ReplyDeleteHow can you all be so jovial about this?! Can't you see that this machine will destroy us ALL?!? Haven't any of you ever seen The Terminator?!?! IS THIS TO MUCH PUNCTUATION?!?!?!?
ReplyDelete"A talkback re: the comunism & Che at newsarama"
ReplyDeleteGrim! Come back, Grim! Griiiimm!!!
Naaah, Bumblebee was a VW bug (old style).
ReplyDeleteYou can see a transforming Bug (new style) here, but ironically, it looks like Jazz in robot mode.
Oddly enough that does look more like Jazz.
ReplyDeleteDidn't they already do an update of Bumblebee? His name was Goldbug or something right?
Autobot--duh.
ReplyDeleteCool..................
ReplyDeletewww.JEZ-SEZ.com
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ReplyDelete