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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/
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!
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.
. . . . . 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 . . . . .
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... :)
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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.
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.
Clearly the "Stuff that matters" bin is a little empty tonight if this made Slashdot...
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.
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
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!"
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...
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
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!"
the best part is where they describe the giant robot as "car-nivorous." (I'm easily amused.)
Actually, the Air Force didn't "rent" it either - it was a paid "act" at a military open house. These events are designed to offer information and entertainment to tax-paying Americans. Robosaurs is quite a draw for the average 8 year old boy - and his tax-paying parents. It's a win-win for the recruiting world.
If you miss this, you'd better be dead... or in jail...And if you're in jail, break out!
$cat
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.
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.
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.'"
I was unfortunate enough baking in the sun with the rest of the desparate for entertainment crowd in Riverside. I was suprised to see Robosaurus was still out doing it's car eating gag. Robosaurus has been doing it's thing since 1989. Quite a career for a robot. I was even more suprised that anyone can call something this old "news".
..is all i can say. Fuckin'a man.
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No matter how thin you slice it, its still baloney.
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.
cool pic from 'robosaurus in action'..
MEGA-Streisand!
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.