Slashdot Mirror
Robosaurus
wpiman writes "The US airforce released this picture of Robosaurus at an airshow. Robosaurus is a purely entertainment robot that stands some 40 feet tall and weighs 30 tons. It can pick up cars, bite them in half, and spits fire. No- it does not appear to run linux." If you look closely, you can just make out Homer and Marge in the car.
I am REPTAR!!! *ROAR*
Just when you make it idiotproof, some idiot builds a better idiot.
Happy Trails!
Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
... Welcome Our New Mechanical Robot Overlords.
if you imagined a beowulf cluster...sorry.
Suing people just doesn't seem to be getting the message across.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Aah, my precious tax dollars at work. Thanks Air Force, keep up the good work!
Like Teddy with an elephant gun.
Robo in Travel Mode
Robo is the "World's Largest Transformer". Robo converts to a street legal Semi-Trailer for travel on the nations highways.
Duuude, it's Optimus Prime's trailer!
No wonder we never saw Grimlock and Prime's trailer at the same time...
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
I bet that could go a long way to solving the "fallujah" problem.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
I vaguely remember seeing television commercials for car rallies and destruction derbies featuring Robosaurus over a decade ago. How slow a news day is it?
G
either approve the new servers, or your Mercedes is next!
It's breathing flames out of its [i]NOSE[/i]! Everybody run!
MAXIMIZE! "CHRRRRRCHRRRROUCHHHHHURHCHRHUUUUTTTTTTTTRRRRR" we can use this against birds that dare to shit their guano in the air. Now we can walk around in the city and not worry about anything.
Grr, I was going to go to the airshow, but instead parked down the street a bit. My sister went, but didn't say anything about a car eating dinosaur... Nothing on the news either. Why am I just hearing about something like this that happened no more then 3 miles from me? March Air Force(Reserve now) Base is actually in Moreno Valley, CA - right on the border of Perris, about 5 miles from Riverside as the article states. This town practically died when the base got shut down.
That is so OLD! I saw it when I was 5, back in '85 at a monster truck rally. Come on now people. The Air Force didn't "build it," they rented it.
Why is this being posted to Slashdot? The Robosaurus has been making the rounds at monster truck rallies for a few years now. It was even featured in one of the final scenes of the movie Waking Up in Reno. It's not even very interesting -- just a big crane made to look like a dinosaur.
back when i was in high school i used to get picked on because i wore a t-shirt with a picture of a dinosaur hacking on a computer entitled "Computerasaurus"
now i'm an old nerd and still never got laid, and got paid shit money during the dot-com boom
life sucks. oh well i'm gonna go play d&d now.
go get my robot insurance policy renewed!
No trees were harmed in the composition of this; however, numerous electrons were inconvenienced.
Answer: NO, Robosaurus is NOT owned, sponsored, or created by the US Air Force. RTFA.
Question: WTF is this doing as a slashdot article? And why am I wasting my time posting to it? Shouldn't I have something better to do at 10PM on a Friday night?
The cure for cancer is coming: Reovirus
. . . . . but damnit, if you give me 40 foot robodroids you've given me enough!
Only in a Slashdot fantasy can a Slackware install turn into several hours of sex . . . . .
Why are my tax dollars funding the developers of Robosaurus again? The article was scant on info, and I am not happy that with the current budget crisis the administration is making toys to play with.
Who would win in a fight Godzilla or Robosaurus?
What could this possibly have to do with the US military?
I take it that was a farce. By the way, just to be that guy, that was truckasaurus
If we don't make light of everything, we are just stumbling in the dark - Blank
If you think thats cool. go here
http://www.srl.org
why slashdot doesnt follow their stories is a mystery.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
I remember goign to a car show in Pontiac Michigan about 10 years ago. One of the first big car crunching robots was there.
I really think we need extreme battle bots. Perhaps the Micro$oft team against the Linux team?
I suppose the Linux team would have an unfair advantage, as the M$ bot would have to be rebooted after every few minutes of heavy activity... :)
-
but the damn thing is just cool!
As AI improves people will start making more useful robots, but for now, publicity like this will spark interest. Some kid just got inspired and in 10 years will make millions of his robots.
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
Does anyone else think the creator of this beast has been watching The Simpsons?
This This story, linked off of the same page, is more interesting.
Not that it's hard to be more interesting than showbots.
plurvert
Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
Sunday only, come see Robosarus eat ASIMO and countless AIBO robots!
I don't keep a lid on my coffee so when I walk around I look busy -me
I for one welcome our...our....siiiiiigh.
This is too easy. Just takes all the fun out of it. Aw hell...no it doesn't.
I for one welcome our giant, fire-breathing meccha dinosaur overlords!
Please help metamoderate.
to repaying the national debt...
Clearly the "Stuff that matters" bin is a little empty tonight if this made Slashdot...
Damn you, you can't just make a numbered list and stop without "Profit!!!". What kind of slashdotter are you?
Much better picture from the Portland International Airshow, 1999
GStreamer - The only way to stream!
Oh man, they should completely burninate Iraq if the Saddam thing doesn't hold the Media off long enough.
Look even closer and you can see your tax dollars in the middle of the flame.
people are finally starting to recycle
They could make it Mil-Spec, all they would need to do is add a couple of miniguns.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Robosaurus will crush you posted 7/19/99
Glad to see that they cancelled the Comanche project after 8 years of work and BILLIONS of dollars, but still kept around the important projects like the 'RoboSaurus'. I wasn't able to make it to the show, and it's hard to see from those pictures, but I heard that Donald Rumsfeld was driving it.
I saw this in the superdome in N.O. when I was 12 (1992). I remember I sat in the cheap seats up high which was about where the flames exausted at. All I really remember is how it tore through a van and it was REALLY HOT.
About a year later fireworks caught the roof of the dome on fire. After that, No more Truck-o-Saurus
I remember seeing ads when it first came out long ago. But it made the news since it was in an airshow a few days ago. It's probably a bit more advanced now than it was when it was first built.
We still have news on old consoles and computer systems. Why not aging car eating robots?
Ben
Work Safe Porn
Does it make gigantic spelling errors, too?
See the last line - no Linux... yet.
Obviously, there is demand for Linux drivers for the Robosaurus, and the hope is that some large scale hardware hacker will rise to the challenge.
Imagine the result: Tyranosaurus Tux.
Then there would finally be a Linux cheerleader with the stage presence of the monkeyman. Send it to Redmond. T. Tux roars: "Ballmer, your ass is mine!"
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
First of all... how is this news? Robosaurus is at least 10 years old, cuz I saw it at a monster truck rally when i was little. Second of all.. even if it isn't news.. how is it interesting? It just says look.. this is robosaurus... this is a picture of it... that the air force took... yay...
-------
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
...if it rolled around on a monowheel while speaking Klingon. Talk about friday night in loserville. Population me.
So they've on from torturing Iraqi prisoners to innocent cars....
Ok, they might have "released the photo", but of thier product. Sheesh. In anycase, here part of the press kit / history about Robosaurus:
Meet ROBOSAURUS, a 40-foot tall 30-ton mechanical dinosaur which offers promoters and sponsors monstrous marketing benefits via huge gates and widespread media exposure. This Hollywood-style spectacle is produced by Monster Robots, Inc., an innovative firm which combines cutting edge technology, special effects, and a professional entertainment production team.
ROBOSAURUS has thrilled crowds at a variety of venues including motor sports events, festivals and air shows. Its credits include appearances at Universal Studios Florida theme park, exposure on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, ESPN cable sports network, a date with Super Dave and a starring role in an NBC movie, "STEEL JUSTICE," which was also produced by Monster Robots, Inc. and Universal Studios. Most recently Robosaurus has filmed two movies scheduled for release in 2000 - "Waking Up in Reno" starring Billy Bob Thornton, Patrick Swayze, Thereza Therone and Natasha Richardson and "The Recycler" starring Hank Williams Jr.
Billed as The First REAL Superhero, ROBOSAURUS is a great crowd draw and a real publicity bonanza. As a Headline attraction ROBO has broken attendance records at venues such as The Superdome in New Orleans, The Kingdome in Seattle and other airshows and motorsports events across the country.
ROBOSAURUS is action at its most exciting. The crowd feels the heat of 20-foot flames shooting from giant nostrils and hears the sound of crunching jaws and tearing metal as the towering beast roars into action to defend the world from modern-day criminals and environmental terrors by devouring drug smuggling planes or gas guzzling cars.
Exciting sponsorship opportunities range from image-enhancing tie-ins with a social or environmental message to market-enhancing product tie-ins. The monster appeals to all age groups; adults are fascinated by the computerized beastÍs technology-children by its "Superhero" characterization.
Commercial opportunities such as official food, beverage or other product status are built-in. ROROSAURUS was designed so its wrists can turn to simulate drinking from a container where the beverage cans are 50 gallon drums. In one creative "taste" test" scenario, Robo tastes each brand, then roars and crushes the losing brandÍs can.
Monster target marketing opportunities exist, for example, with fans of motor sports, air shows, hydroplane races and other motor-oriented events, the largest spectator audience in the U.S.. The unique marketing attribute of ROBOSAURUS is that he is not limited to a limited genre of entertainment venue. ROBO can perform at a motorsports event at the Astrodome one weekend and be in the "Rose Parade" the next.
A wide range of sponsor benefits packages includes signage and logos, product awareness via massive media exposure, product promotion and custom sponsorship packages. A recent grocery chain sponsor enjoyed a 15 % increase in store traffic for six weeks due to an event promotion centered on ROBOSAURUS.
Monster Robots, Inc. was formed in l988, when its founders combined creative, professional and entrepreneurial backgrounds in business, aerospace engineering and special effects production to create a unique, experienced and expert monster management team.
ROBOSAURUS was created as a showpiece of state-of-the-art hydraulic, electrical and mechanical technology. The firm spent two years developing and building it in affiliation with more than 30 high-tech companies like Parker-Hannifin, an international hydraulics corporation and the project's major sponsor.
ROBOSAURUS in conjunction with "The Portland Rose Festival" was the winner of the "1995 International Festivals and Events Association's Pinnacle Award for: MOST CREATIVE/EFFECTIVE NEWS STUNT".
"Our object is to present large than life entertainment," said Mark Hays, President of Monster Robots, Inc. "This unit is the ultimate in audience involvement and entertainment. ROBO really blows people away, and its marketing potential is tremendous!"
If your job involves reading comprehension, you'll be lucky if you're not getting an extra fat unemployment check next year.
*They've moved on from Iraqi prisoners to cars....
Oh, wait, you meant the RIAA wanted to use them, not that the RIAA needs to be visited by a dozen of them? Naah, just not the same thing at all....
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
the best part is where they describe the giant robot as "car-nivorous." (I'm easily amused.)
This just goes to show where our tax-dollars go. Instead of cutting our enemies in half, or cutting the taxes themselves in half, they create a robot that can cut cars in half. *sigh*
-Imidazole
Hilarious Office Prank!
Beastron could kick its ass in a fight, I bet. Don't get me started on those Toyo studio characters, either!
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
This is exactly the kind of thinking that got the people from the Terminator movies in trouble.
True story.
I'm torn between "Death awaits you all with sharp pointy teeth" and "AHHHHH RUN AWAY RUN AWAY
It's a frelling RC car!
"You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister
All I wanted was some sharks with lasers on their heads!
Imean, this thing was featured in Simpsons Hit And Run, and in the animated series years ago. Popular science had a cover article on it, like, in the 1990s.
--- Ban humanity.
...to bring me shoes in the morning like aibo did
If you miss this, you'd better be dead... or in jail...And if you're in jail, break out!
$cat
Hi their, just in case things go sidewise as it were I have put up a mirror.n y18104291818&e=3&ncid=705 is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_115/news.yahoo.com/ %3ftmpl=story2&%3bu=/040429/480/ny18104291818&a mp%3be=3&%3bncid=705 . com/
The mirror of http://news.yahoo.com/?tmpl=story2&u=/040429/480/
The mirror of http://www.robosaurus.com/ is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_115/www.robosaurus
Note to Mods: When I post mirrors, it's a best guess. I don't know for certain whether or not the site will go down!
I wonder if the Iraqis will be equally entertained when they see battallions of these marching in lockstep down the street...
Intolerance for ambiguity is the mark of the authoritarian personality.
because US would lost on mass scale production,
What they did (US) =>
#1
What was asked (Japan) =>
#1 #2
does it have marlon brando's voice?
We played dungeons and dragons for 3 hours.....then i was slain by an elf
lol
Surely this article is some type of redneck nerd tracking honeypot. Only for those home on Friday night, reading Slashdot, reading articles about 10 year old "robots" that breath fire and eat cars, a robot that doesn't run Linux. It can't be news...
if the pilot is a socially maladroit 14 year old who keeps muttering, "I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away."
I saw the "Robosaurus" like 6 years ago at the Stockton Airshow.
And by the way, the Air Force has nothing to do with it.
The inventor of Robosaurous is Doug Malewicki.
His website has details of other things he has worked on or invented, including a rocket belt, Evil Knievil's SkyCycle, 248 mph electric car, flying can cooler, jet bikes, and the "build your own hovercraft" that used to be advertised in comic books.
oops, nix the hovercraft credit:r 02.htm
http://www.canosoarus.com/14AirCar/AirCa
Check out the Waldo style user interface this thing has.
Robo is the "World's Largest Transformer". Robo converts to a street legal Semi-Trailer for travel on the nations highways.
I don't know about you, but I'd be freakin' scared seeing this driving down the road next to me.
You'll pay for a whole seat, but you'll only use the edge!
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Provide entertainment for the American masses as RoboSaurus cooks and eats Terrorism alive in the streets of Fallujah.
..is all i can say. Fuckin'a man.
---------
No matter how thin you slice it, its still baloney.
But the Microsoft robot would only need a few minutes to slice and dice the linux robot since it won't need to operated from a shell with hacked together globs of perl.
"Ahhh I'm typing as fast as I can, this man page doesn't make any sense. *crunch*"
My money is on Godzilla, but it would probably be a good fight.
Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses. If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher.
Dude! This thing is AWESOME! The Am'rcan mil's very own version of SRL!!!
;) let me just have my inner kid say how freakin' cool I think this thing is.
First off, let me just say that this is a very nice, and interesting use of technology. It's great to think that a bright five year old might see this lumbering heap o' tech and become inspired to think "how in the hell did they do that???" And ask his (or her) Dad, who fuels his curiosity and feeds him math and science until he can begin to make real decisions on where he want's to take his (or her) life based on a solid foundation of curiosity, intellectual stimulation and a self-motivated desire to learn.
Okay, now that the message from the "responsible adult" side of me (who never had the benefit of any of those things I mentioned -- but that shit is for my therapist, not for you trollish 'holes
But this stuff is old hat to Mark Pauline. In 1978, he "hijacked" (according to his description) a local gas station by (without permission) setting up an assembly line of chomping devices and (this was during an OPEC oil crunch) proceed to skewer, slice and dice a number of dead pigeons that he dressed up as "little arabs". When accosted by the employees, he tipped them to shut them up! His shows have grown and grown since that time and become more and more demented. His machines became larger, more imposing and insideous. He started attaching rocket launchers, flame throwers and grenade launchers and (yes folks) SOUND CANNONS that could blow apart large objects. He started re-animating the corpses of dead animals such as...horses! Basically, Survival Research Labs (as it's known) is what happens when an engineer (who comes from a broken home) wants to live as a gypsey for a little while and wreak a bit of havok along the way. by all accounts...these guys are...disturbed!
And absolutely fucking brilliant! They were wayyy ahead of the curve by letting some of their machines (as early as 1997, I spoke to Pauline about this as early as 1995 and he told me about this) be controlled over the internet. I highly encourage anyonw reading this to check them out and contribute your talents (if you have any and are local to them) in any way you can contribute.
I have never personally been lucky to see an SRL show. They were a very early indication/example of the "industrial culture". But I hope to see either one of theirs, or one of the things in the article, before I shuffle off this mortal coil! These guys are worth a slashdotting in their OWN damn right!
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
So nice of you to link to someone's personal webspace with a 1600x1200 image. For those of you who didn't click the link, it shows the effects of a Slashdotting on a poor, defenseless server :)
:)
Just imagine that buring, twisted hunk of metal as the server, and the giant, firebreathing beast as the Slashdot effect
But yeah, I remember going to the Portland airshow, and I thought the whole thing was kinda lame. Why watch some truck-rally gimmick when the Blue Angels were in town?
Oh man, this looks like it should be in a Beastie Boys video doing the robot!!!!
> . . . . . but damnit, if you give me 40 foot robodroids you've given me enough!
I for one welcome our new 40 foot fire-breathing transformer overlords!
And you'll finally be able to shut your fucking brother-in-law up about his new Aibo and how fucking wonderful it is.
Park it in the driveway, and you'll never be broken into again.
I not sure what the criteria for being a robot is.
Having seen inside this beast, I wouldn't say that it is any more of a robot than say, a forklift or a skiploader is.
Give or take a flamethrower or two.
Mecha Streisand
Anyone even remotely impressed with this thing needs to see the film Steel Justice (don't worry, it's so bad, Sci-Fi channel runs it a lot). Or just read about it at IMDB http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0105469/
Horrible. Pathetic. Forgetable. Those are words to use with Robosaurus.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: You don't need to see his identification.
Stormtrooper: We don't need to see his identification.
Obi-wan Kenobi: These aren't the "ROBOSAURUS" you're looking for.
Stormtrooper: These aren't the "ROBOSAURUS" we're looking for.
Obi-wan Kenobi: He can go about his business.
Stormtrooper: You can go about your business.
Obi-wan Kenobi: Move along.
Stormtrooper: Move along! Move along!
It has a human operator... there is no AI in it at all
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
I've noticed a growing trend at these shows- March Air Museum (on the west side of the base at Van Buren & 215 Fwy) is good example. They brought a number of their planes over and parked them in a semi-roped off area. You can walk up to the ropes and look, but if you want to walk past the ropes, it's $2 a shot. Also courtesy of the air museum, they had an SR-71 on the ground, no ropes. You could walk up the platform and look in the open cockpit, but if you want to actually sit in it, it's $10 a shot. Blech.
Presumably due to 9/11, they didn't have the F117 on the ground like last time. Just a flyover.
The most frustrating thing about these shows is that I always set out with the goal of getting a picture or video of one of the Thunderbirds during their show. Every show, just one time, all but one of the jets will fly by at a fairly slow pace, then the other one zooms by with (I think it is) full afterburners. Every darned time I intend to get the pic and ever time, no matter how much I try to remember, i'm always looking at the slow planes and miss the shot.
Partly for shameless plug and partly...for shameless plug- here's the pics I took at the show:...darned slashdot...how about go to johnperkins.com and click on "Air Show 99" or Air Show 04"
Sounds like someone just wanted to use the most general geeky prefix and the most general geeky suffix together in one word.
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
robosaurus was featured in "Compressed Air" magazine more than 10 years ago, maybe 12 years ago!!!
really!
Troll? Am I missing something here? I'm against bad puns as much as the next guy, but surely "overrated" is sufficient?
Woah there Smellysaurus.. don't breath fire too close to that KC-10 in the background. A few thousand gallons of JP-3 makes a nice big fireball...
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
...Some kind of new Metal Gear?
does it play Ogg Vorbis? If not it's lame...
(Dons flame suit)
Read the second link, believe it or not the robot was created in a private enterprise.
RTFA never applied more.
Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know when your gonna get food poisoning.
Hey, that thing looks almost exactly like the Truck-o-Saurus in the Simpson's episode Bart the daredevil. I wonder which one came first, or if it's the same one (with a different name).
Martin
cool pic from 'robosaurus in action'..
Sunday! SunDay! SUNDAY!
We'll sell you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge!!
http://github.com/gbook/nidb
Surprising to see no one linked to the official website, also for a great deal more pictures,
google pictures to the rescue.
Imagine sending this over to Iraq.... we know it's useless as an effective weapon against bombs and stuff, but they don't....be great to just scare the hell out of 'em.
Make America grate again!
Would that be a radio antenna on its head?
Hax0rus, anyone?
Look what happened to that egg Dennis stole!
Proof that technology and cloning doesn't mix!
Robosaurus has been around a long time, but has also been an international success and great for advertising. He came to The Royal Easter Show in 1999 and was the main arena main event, and was also a big hit even though he didn't do much and it got pretty boring after a while. The best bit was earlier during the day where the mangled cars where left on the side of a busy thoroughfare. Next year Robosaurus got replaced by The Man From Snowy River which wasn't nearly as good, there was no violene and destruction damnit, obviously they needed Linux more the that than Robosaurus, Linux in the tinny anyone?
Next we'll be seeing posts about monster trucks. Sad but sort of funny what qualifies as 'geeky' these days.
Truckasaurus!
Well he's not getting the TV.
Philip
Signatures are broken
Tentacle Sessions 35: The Women of SRL
I couldn't resist clicking on that link. :(
Unfortunately, it was a hoax, and not what I thought
MEGA-Streisand!
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
http://www.robosaurus.com/compare.html
Did you mount a military-grade, variable-focus MASER on an unlicensed artificial intelligence?
Actually, it's my personal server, a User-mode Linux machine at PDXcolo.net, the company I co-own. The machine didn't breathe hard at all, didn't even notice the loads in the slightest.
GStreamer - The only way to stream!
I understand your frustration with not being able to see an SRL show - like I noted, I had signed up for the LV show and it was cancelled in hours (so then I had to cancel my reservations and everything - strange experience). Bummed me totally.
But - I am going (again!) to Burning Man this year. My first burn was last year (so, I still think of myself as a BM newbie), and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I urge you to go. You will see things and meet people unlike anything or anyone else. At times, it gets as loud and strange as an SRL performance. At other times - it gets even *stranger*. At certain times, you aren't even sure if your are on earth anymore.
Take a week or so off, and go. You will have dreams on the Playa unlike any you have ever had (and this is without any intoxicants!). Complete strangers will be your friends and show you incredible experiences. There is so much there to do and see, you won't be able to imagine. The ground thumps with music (of any and all kinds - last year, I saw a couch rolling down the street (4:30 & Inspiration?) singing Willie Nelson!) - lasers dance in the sky, and everything glitters and shimmers in light fantastic (people too!). A giant's chandelier fell from the sky and landed on the Playa...
Go - you won't regret it...
Alright - now I wait for a pundit to post "Burning Man is Cancelled This Year - Go Home!"
Reason is the Path to God - Anon