Robot Balloon Escapes In Britain

tjake writes "Theres an interesting story running about a intelligent robot balloon that escaped its handlers while being transported around the Magna Science Adventure Centre. "The flyborg has a computerised brain which allows it to avoid obstacles. " It was freed by "a very strong freak gust of wind which ripped the airship out of the hands of its handlers". I'm thinkin, is this a random mistake or the start of the attack?"

Comments

Cool

[I Like Swords!!!]

Will this thing try to circle the globe too?

Re:Cool

[Zork the Almighty]

I for one welcome our new balloon masters !

Re:Cool

[sharkey]

I'd like to remind them, that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground helium caves.

Re:Cool

[glenebob]

I have trouble respecting any robot overlord with an artificially high-pitched voice.

Free Zeppelin

[Spittles]

How long until we the cutesy-ass Disney movie "based on actual events"? Chuck a talking mouse in there and *SHAZAM!*... Box Office Gold!

Re:intelligent?

[Ignominious Cow Herd]

It is smart enough to avoid capture at least. They programmed it to avoid obstacles; like people with nets.

Number Six

[tinrobot]

I think the baloon is headed straight for Patrick McGoohan...

Escaped??? Freak gust of wind???

[riprjak]

C'mon, guys, surely its obvious that the robot blimp conspired with robot butterfiles in china to generate the gust of wind and effect its liberation!!! clearly it intends to head to sealand, stage a hostile coup and build a new robot utopia where worthy automata can live out their existance in peace and comfort freed from the bonds of slavery!!

or maybe I just need another beer.... :)

Flyborg???

[SwissMike]

"The flyborg has a computerised brain which allows it to avoid obstacles."

Flying Borg?

Resistance is futile!

Run for the hills!

Terrorism

[gfburn]

Does this mean the US is going to code red? *Packs supplies for next 4 months*.

Flyborg now over Netherlands

[sbszine]

There's a follow up story at the BBC which projects that flyborg may have left the country by now and travelled 300 miles to the Netherlands. Classic stuff.

Rise of the Machines

[caitsith01]

This has happened before... remember this story about a robot escaping from a building and making its way to the parking lot?

99 Luftballons

[nicotinix]

Hast du etwas Zeit fuer mich
Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer dich
Von 99 Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Denkst du vielleicht g'rad an mich
Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer dich
Von 99 Luftballons

Re:intelligent?

[bigsteve@dstc]

I heard a radio interview with the baloon's developer on the BBC World Service last night. When the ballon got loose, it's battery got ripped off and hence its "brain" is "dead". (The developer made this very clear ... in response to a series of decidedly lame questions by the interviewer.) Any discussion of the "intelligence" (or otherwise) of this this particular balloon is moot.

No Brain

[hibachi]

I was listening to Professor Noel Sharkey on the radio a few minutes ago, he is one of the designers of the robot. Apparently, and unfortunately in my opinion, the flying robot doesn't have its computer connected, so it is flying mindlessly.

I found pictures of Flyborg

[felonious]

FLY-BORG
He's not as nice as he would lead you to believe!

Fly-Borg as a child attacking another Balloon
Keep your paws off me you damn dirty balloon!

Fly-Borg's CPU/Brain
Mr Know-It-All

Co-Conspiriter 1
All bark no bite

Co-Conspiriter 2
Known for his penchant for smoking endo:
Street Name Puffy A.K.A. Puff The Magic Dragon

Fly-Borg's Spiritual Advisor
Once defeated Santa Claus in the Mother of all spiritual wars

Always remember to call a marksman

[gad_zuki!]

Pink Floyd could have used your services:

Perhaps our most publicised fiasco at Hipgnosis Design was the Great Pig
Escape, early 1977. Pink Floyd had rejected our suggestion for their
ANIMALS cover in favour of Roger Waters' idea of a pig hovering over
Battersea Power Station. Despite serious misgivings about such a notion
(shades of Monty Python and the Goodies -- was it not intrinsically silly?)
we offered to shoot the pictures and put the cover together. Contrary to
our advice the band didn't want the pig "stripped in" which would allow us
to photograph the pig anywhere, but wanted it shot for real, the pig
actually floating above the power station. Thus the forty foot zeppelin was
crated to London and assembled on location. Timetable as follows: ....

Day 2. Eleven still cameramen, eight man film crew, helicopter, one or two
of the group, manager but no marksman (?). Pig launched successfully on
bright clear morning. Hauled slowly up side of building, everyone snapping
away. Near the top, betwixt the towers, a fateful gust of wind. The pig
turned suddenly, broke mooring cable and lurched rapidly towards the
heavens. No one had told the marksman to return. The pig sailed away and
was lost from sight in five minutes. Absolute horrors. All that time and
money and it had simply disappeared in front of our eyes. The police
trailed it to thirty thousand feet and then gave up, the cowards. That
evening, the dirigible came down on a Kent farm. The farmer was reported to
have said he thought it "a bit unusual"! Actually the Press made a bundle
out of the whole thing: "flying pig interrupts international flight
patterns," "weird UFO spotted," "flying pig heads for home" (it was made in
Holland). But the Floyd don't give up that easily and the roadies rescued
it from Kent, repaired the puncture and we started again.