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Beware The Rotundus Rover
EasyTarget writes "Originally developed as a Mars Rover, the Swedish developers of the Rotundus are now pitching their all-terrain pendulum powered sphere as a robotic Security Guard. I'm sure I have seen this in action already."
Already /.ed !
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I for one welcome our new robotic security overlords
Run away from the Swedish Ch... Security Robot!
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Toys/entertainment. One example is a remote controlled robotball for all kinds of terrain
I have trouble believing that something that makes a good security guard also makes a good children's toy...
Oh yeah, and what the hell is a robotball?
Based on the pictures and description on the site, it sure looks like it can go a lot of places. I'm not sure what it can do once it gets there (since it's really just a sphere with notches to act like treads).
When are robots like Rosie on the Jetsons going to be easily affordable?
I'm a big tall mofo.
Step 1, build the rover.
Step 3, Profit.
It could be worse, it could be Monday.
This reminds me of the spherical robot in The Incredibles.
I'm not sure I agree with their marketing talk though: they claim that a single security officer can cost op to $200k for 24 hours. That seems rather steep...
see a Text Widget
You forgot to say : 'imagine a Beowulf cluster of this ...'
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6932 Another article which might be useful since their site is slashdotted now...
slashdotted already? since it took about 60 seconds to load the main page, perhaps they're using that Rotundus robot as a web server...
530 Sorry, the maximum number of allowed clients (10) already connected Man, what a massive client limit. Ironically, it's probably what will keep their server from grinding to a total halt...though I shudder to think how many 530's it's spewing out at the moment.
Stand clear of the doors. The doors are now closing.
In the security business as a whole there is a strong pressure to replace humans with technology in order to reduce costs and increase security. Substantial savings are possible because a single security officer can cost up to $200 000 for a 24 hour service.
Wages: $20,000
Perks: $10,000
Employer contributions: $15,000
Caffeine required for continuous operation: $155,000
Why did you think a giant bubble would stop them?
Shut up, that's why!
Scientists noted that if the whole "robot security guard" thing doesn't pan out, the rover is also available to do children's parties.
www.kiwilyrics.com - a wiki for lyrics
"And now Princess you will tell me the location of the rebel base." (Just missing the two shots on the side)
It can not be talked to. It can not be reasoned with. It has no mercy, no sympathy. It will not stop until it has carried out it's tasks. It will kill without feeling... So where can I get one?
Here's the linked image in the submission
(This is probably the dumbest mirror ever, but oh well...)
Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
Nerds and Geeks beware... It's a weight training medicine ball! Run.
Robot rolls up to an Intruder and shouts out "Halt! Who goes there!". Intruder gives it a nudge and replies "Seeya around" :)
all you gotta do is drape a canvas bag over it, and oila.. no more rolly polly.
...
which is why i am in favour of robobally-cop havin' frickin' lazer beams on its head^H^H^H^Houter circumference, somewhere
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Isn't there some kind of robot floor duster that looks like this?
Meddle thou not in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy and with most anything.
I propose a better marketing program.
1. Make rotundus smaller, of a size and weight of a bowling ball
2. Sell it to thoose guys which are trying picking up chicks from Bowling Arena.
3. Profit
They've got a lot of catching up to do in the spherical security robots category.
"Beware The Rotundus Rover"
Beware of the British Leyland Rover as well.
The Daily Telegraph had a front-page piece about this today. Slow news day, obviously! The idea that it could be trained to corner burglars seems a bit far-fetched (staircase, anyone?) but the idea of it chasing after intruders while phoning the police, taking photos and, presumably, shouting "EXTERMINATE!" is pretty cool...
How do you mount a gun on it if its security? Or is it just one big bomb that rolls up and detonates on you? It'd be cool if it was like a pill bug robot, that could climb walls and morph into a ball. Or maybe its the suit from metroid.
God spoke to me.
Bowling anyone?
I just hope it works better than this thing.
Carried "cocked and locked", much better than some sort of Rover.
http://packing.org/ for more info.
;-/
Who would have thunk She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was a The Prisoner fan?
1) not a number, free man
2) find out who is #1?
3) plug the fucking keyhole on front door
yes
At least they don't look like jumped-up salt shakers.
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
No, but NetBSD ;P
In The Prisoner, their security is a big ball of canvas filled with something and it suffocates people trying to escape. Why don't they try that?
"Scientists have proof without certainty; Creationists have certainty without proof" -Ashley Montagu
I wonder if IKEA will carry them.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
You could probably roll your own. I crack me up.
The working title for this project was "ED-209".
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
That would be 4 guys at 50K a year... (you can't expect 1 guy to be there 24 hours a day 7 days a week, even if he is Gary Coleman)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I figure i could bypass the security robot just by screaming 10 different commands at it at once.. it'll jsut freeze up like the server did :)
__Phixxr
ungggghhhh
...all-terrain pendulum powered sphere...
This gives the good old Rock'n'Roll a new dimension.
Ni.
Just get in a corner!
It's a very cool show. Made 30 years ago, it attacks topics which are even more relevant today, like privacy/secrecy and the eternal struggle between the individual and society. DVDs readily available for rental. The final episode got a lot of people pissed off, which is all I'll say.
I think I will name it Colin.
This is not offtopic. I was looking for a Reference. Spherical Security guards are hardly a new idea.
I am ashamed of every last one of you!! How could I possibly be the first to say -Droideka-?
When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
Might as well call it Marvin while you're at it.
Free Mac Mini Yeah, it's
If you're poor, you could try one of these.
Paint a while eight on it, and you'll have the Infinity Ball, from The Tick!
For cool read "so off the wall nobody really understood it so presumed it must be intelligent, deep and meaningful". In actuality it was just a combination of drug induced writing and bad acting. Not unlike a lot of British TV of the era.
I don't know who they surveyed to get the $200K price tag for security guards, but I'm sure I'd like to get that wage!
It aspired to be an astronaut exploring new worlds but became a rent-a-cop replacement.
The obvious question on everyone's mind is "hey isn't this bit torrent?". the answer is no. It has the same effect (cooperative downloading) but the cool thing is that ANYTHING on the web is ready to download this way. That's right it's like someone created an torrent tracker for the entire world wide web!!!
As the little box explains, right click on any link and it loads the link using P2P rather than http. ANY link. the web site does NOT have to even know you are doing this or participate. The web site does not have the tracker.
This is a break through.
moreover it's not like you dowload the media to disk and then play it later. it works right in your bowser so from your point of view its a normal web page.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Slashdot - where news are taken down immediately by linking to them. Stuff that you'd like to read but can't, because some clever guy posted a link on /.
I hope I didn't brain my damage.
Was a weather balloon, and it was big enough to swallow a man. This one I might use in FourSquare, but it would probably cheat.
Presumably they will have the ability to play noughts and crosses.
And come with the perfect security guard voice of Winsdor Davis.
Karma Whore
Here you go.
Max initial upload 30KB/s.
Up for the next 24h or so.
"Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball!"
Meh.
Always wondering why no one thought of a ball as a robot before, It all made sense for a while. However if it gets stuck between a rock and....another rock it has very little ability to get itself lose. Seems like situations like this is still where tires/wheels have an advantage.
ItWasFree.com - Take the mystery
In case, like me, you missed the final episode of "The Prisioner" a summary of the final episode and it's issues is available here: Prisioner final episode spoiler and issues
Its not users who are broken, it's systems not taking account their likely behaviour and fixing it technically.
It doesn't seems an octopus...
"Some balls are held for charity :-P
and some for fancy dress
but when they're held for pleas^H^H^H^H^H robots
they're the balls that I like best!"
"Creativity is allowing ones self to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep" - Scott Adams
Marvin stood at the end of the bridge corridor. He was not in fact a particularly small robot. His silver body gleamed in the dusty sunbeams and shook with the continual barrage which the building was still undergoing.
..." said the machine, vibrating with unaccustomed thought, "laser beams?"<P>
... how about an electron ram?"<P>
..."<P>
..." it tailed off into thought again.<P>
He did, however, look pitifully small as the gigantic black tank rolled to a halt in front of him. The tank examined him with a probe. The probe withdrew. Marvin stood there.<P>
"Out of my way little robot," growled the tank.<P>
"I'm afraid," said Marvin, "that I've been left here to stop you."<P>
The probe extended again for a quick recheck. It withdrew again.
"You? Stop me?" roared the tank. "Go on!"<P>
"No, really I have," said Marvin simply.<P>
"What are you armed with?" roared the tank in disbelief.<P>
"Guess," said Marvin.<P>
The tank's engines rumbled, its gears ground. Molecule-sized electronic relays deep in its micro-brain flipped backwards and forwards in consternation.
"Guess?" said the tank.<P>
...<P>
"Yes, go on," said Marvin to the huge battle machine, "you'll never guess."<P>
"Errmmm
Marvin shook his head solemnly.<P>
"No," muttered the machine in its deep guttural rumble, "Too obvious. Anti-matter ray?" it hazarded.<P>
"Far too obvious," admonished Marvin.<P>
"Yes," grumbled the machine, somewhat abashed, "Er
This was new to Marvin.
"What's that?" he said.<P>
"One of these," said the machine with enthusiasm.<P>
From its turret emerged a sharp prong which spat a single lethal blaze of light. Behind Marvin a wall roared and collapsed as a heap of dust. The dust billowed briefly, then settled.<P>
"No," said Marvin, "not one of those."<P>
"Good though, isn't it?"<P>
"Very good," agreed Marvin.<P>
"I know," said the Frogstar battle machine, after another moment's consideration, "you must have one of those new Xanthic Re-Structron Destabilized Zenon Emitters!"<P>
"Nice, aren't they?" said Marvin.<P>
"That's what you've got?" said the machine in considerable awe.<P>
"No," said Marvin.<P>
"Oh," said the machine, disappointed, "then it must be
"You're thinking along the wrong lines," said Marvin, "You're failing to take into account something fairly basic in the relationship between men and robots."<P>
"Er, I know," said the battle machine, "is it
"Just think," urged Marvin, "they left me, an ordinary, menial robot, to stop you, a gigantic heavy-duty battle machine, whilst they ran off to save themselves. What do you think they would
leave me with?"<P>
"Oooh, er," muttered the machine in alarm, "something pretty damn devastating I should expect."<P>
"Expect!" said Marvin, "oh yes, expect. I'll tell you what they gave me to protect myself with shall I?"<P>
"Yes, alright," said the battle machine, bracing itself.<P>
"Nothing," said Marvin.<P>
There was a dangerous pause.
"Nothing?" roared the battle machine.<P>
"Nothing at all," intoned Marvin dismally, "not an electronic sausage."<P>
The machine heaved about with fury.
"Well, doesn't that just take the biscuit!" it roared, "Nothing, eh? Just don't think, do they?"<P>
"And me," said Marvin in a soft low voice, "with this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side."<P>
"Makes you spit, doesn't it?"<P>
"Yes," agreed Marvin with feeling.<P>
"Hell that makes me angry," bellowed the machine, "think I'll smash that wall down!"
Due to the new spherical security bots patroling the hallways, the criminal tools list has an addendum of a large foldable cardboard box. Your tipical fridge packaging box will suffice.
This setup is ideal, as it allows one to hide behind the box, until the right moment, at which to cover the security bot.
One may wish to leave some holes at the top of the box to disorient the bot, if it looks for a source of light for orientation.
-- Crafty and Silent
Yes it has been done before... "Intruder Alert!" http://www.thewarp.net/war/tigersofveda/berzerkevi lotto.gif
If the thing can't hack it as a security guard, it's DOOMED as a kids' party chaperone/herdsman. All the cleverness of adults with none of their awareness of "but you can't do that". Kids will think of angles no adult would ever come across. Toughest audience imaginable for a security device...
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
No doubt. Cheap and effective. You could add a large bowl to that list, with which to cradle the thing in so it can't move :) Or maybe even a large wet towel to go around it's base, haha!
Next thing ya know, there's used chewing gum at every crime scene, gunking up the rolling bots, heh.
Does anyone know if there will be a new improved version of it, capable of firing plasma? Or hope so? *):oD
One option is to cover the ball in a gridwork of electrodes and electrocute the target.
Or, you could turn those little pegs for feet into tazers so that you'd have a grid of a few hundred projectile electrocutor thingys.
heheheh weeeeee
And may I say for anyone who hasn't yet clicked the above link, "DON'T!"
No offense to the parent poster, but go and watch the series yourself and you'll appreciate a lot more. You'll also develop an irrational fear of balloons.
And to anyone who has seen the last episode, all I will say is "The leg bone's connected to the hip bone."
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
To save you from having to download to try it out: Dijjer maps the file name to a file served on 127.0.0.1:XXXX. Then you have to download and run a little jar (java -jar dijjer.jar). Then you click the link to download, and the Dijjer jar does whatever its magic is.
I hope it doesn't share all the files on my computer.
Well I did tag the link as a spoiler... Its just that i saw a few episodes of "The Prisioner" many years ago, and kinda liked em, but wasn't willing to go as far as tracking down the whole series on DVD but still wanted to know how it turned out.
I mean why would i want to go to all that trouble just be annoyed that it ended poorly?
Its not users who are broken, it's systems not taking account their likely behaviour and fixing it technically.
Smells more like astroturf to me.
"It's a very cool show. Made 30 years ago"
Closer to 40, actually.
-- Boycott Shell
Granted, a camera that rolls around inside a sealed sphere is a neat idea by itself, but the suggested security applications are just plain poorly-thought-out.
Consider that anyone with a weighted net or a tube of epoxy could immobilize the thing. A tarp with sandbag corners could both blind and immobilize the unit.
Consider that even though it can be sealed to eliminate the chance of water dirt or mud getting inside, covering it with mud will make it useless anyway, especially if immobilized.
One quarter-can of spray paint should be enough to cover the whole ball. Sure its mobile, but if it's blind it's not useful.
It can't climb stairs or ladders and it can't rattle doorknobs. It can't look into windows at eye-level and it can't shine a flashlight into areas. It can't collar, beat up or shoot trespassers/transgressors. There's no mention of audio monitoring capability, either.
To quote TFA; "In the security business as a whole there is a strong pressure to replace humans with technology in order to reduce costs and increase security. Substantial savings are possible because a single security officer can cost up to $200,000 for a 24 hour service."
Sure, hiring real people to do security work is expensive, but you get real people doing the work, and the capabilities of real people are far greater than a camera-in-a-beachball.
To be fair, I'll also grant that human security guards may be prone to laziness, sleeping on the job, not being observant, etc. However, the idea that a rolling ball has enough capability to replace a real person (eyes and ears, a nightstick, a flashlight, a gun and a loop of keys) is pretty far out. Even patrolling parking lots seem like a stretch to me.
.. pa-ra-bo-la, pa-ra-bo-la, 2 pi R, 2 pi R, where's your latus rectum, where's your latus rectum, 2 pi R
Wouldn't the security ball eventually scratch up its outer shell by rolling on it, eventually making any video useless? Maybe this is why it was rejected as a Mars rover.
Does this thing remind anyone else of Evil Otto from the 70s coinop BERSERK?????
It doesn't matter what you wrap your emotions around, Reality is a brick wall specifically designed to scramble eggs
A couple episodes were kinda corny filler, but that's because the original concept had only 7 or so key shows. The other 10 were largely filler.
For its time, though, it was quite imaginative and thoroughly paranoid. The whole idea that The Village operated outside any given country's government ("Who's side are you on?") and all the 1984ish elements twisted to reflect Cold War technology development made for something more than just "off the wall." You have direct commentary on the effects of socialism on individuality, the growth of government for government's sake, and ongoing struggle to truly keep some things personal. I guess you could say it's a rather libertarian-angled program. (Or, should I say, programme?) All in a nearly comic-bookish scifi-ish trippy backdrop. :-)
Some things get old in the series by the end, but it was designed from the beginning to run its course over a summer. If they were to try something like this 20 years later, it'd be a week or two long miniseries, with 7 or 8 total episodes.
--JoeProgram Intellivision!
Oh I know you tagged it as a spoiler, fair enough. It's just that I really liked the Prisoner and if someone else felt the same way I did, then it would be a shame if they couldn't enjoy it because they'd discovered it through the last episode first.
Just for the record, I read that it ended the way that it did because the studio pulled funding for it, so Patrik McGoohan had to skip right to the end and compress everything into the final episode.
And contrary to rest of humanity, I also enjoyed it, so I guess there must be someone else out there who would.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
In Indiana its the Running of the Boulders
Xtreme Bocci Ball
The Phantasm Dash
It seems like one of these would do at least half-decently in the DARPA Grand Challenge if you upsized it and stuck on GPS receiver. It'd be able to roll over most obstacles. For those it couldn't roll over, it could use reactive techniques (coupled with IR sensors, cameras, or simple bump sensors) to find its way past.
I cant believe I just spent a minute and 44 seconds watching a black ball roll around in the snow. There is something wrong with me.....
Interesting. Well even though you are the first one of my admittedly limited set of viewers who liked the final Prisoner episode, I am now of course intrigued by the debate.
So of course now I have to go and watch the whole series sometime (including the last episode).
Its not users who are broken, it's systems not taking account their likely behaviour and fixing it technically.
Oh, good! MAKE me feel old, why don't you! :-P
The Solution: Copy the friggin' link from their site!
http://127.0.0.1:9115/http://rotundus.cjb.n et/rotundus_outdoor.mpgp g
Hmmm.... what could I do with this?
http://rotundus.cjb.net/rotundus_outdoor.m
http://rotundus.cjb.net/rotundus_outdoor.mpg
GOOD GOD IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
All that said, I'd rather we just used the Coral Cache
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
... we shall discuss the location of your hidden Rebel base.
but is it cool like the robots in Terrahawks? http://www.erinshore.com/terrahawks/images/number_ 13_large.jpg
I first saw the pic and wondered if it can unfolds into a power armor suit and can double-bomb-jump. :)
Hey, I'm 40+ and I don't play favorites :P
-- Boycott Shell
do they bore into the foreheads of intruders and pump their brains out?
Did we learn nothing from the episode of the 6 Million Dollar Man where Steve Austin has to fight the Venus probe?
I think I've seen it in action, too. Scary!
Be seeing you.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.