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Teens Arrested For Motorized Office Chair

Posted by samzenpus on from the crazyboy dept.

German police have confiscated the world's fastest office chair and arrested its 17-year-old inventors. The duo added a lawnmower engine, brakes and a metal frame to the office chair and were reported to be driving it all over the streets of Gross-Zimmern. Police did not comment on the chair's handling or acceleration but I look forward to it being profiled on Top Gear.

60 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. So much for the seeds of .... by BitterOldGUy · · Score: 5, Funny

    German engineering.

    1. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by Deadfyre_Deadsoul · · Score: 3, Funny

      I for one welcome our rocket chair creating overlords.

      What did the cops get them for, speeding?

      --
      ~DF
    2. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by MyLongNickName · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh, please. Making the chair is cool. Driving it on public roads is not so cool. I admit, I chuckled when I saw the picture, but they should have tested it out in an empty parking lot.

      On the other hand, this invention is uber cool!!!

      --
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    3. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by janeuner · · Score: 5, Insightful

      God forbid that a bunch of kids make something on their own. They might, you know, invent something useful.

    4. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by HungryHobo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      not much chance of that but it's still cool :D

    5. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by ByOhTek · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think the problem isn't that they invented something, it's that they were very irresponsible with it (driving a motor vehicle on the streets without proper training or safety measures).

      And I wouldn't call a lawnmower-engine powered office chair "useful". Interesting, and amusing, but not useful.

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    6. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 3, Funny

      >> they should have tested it out in an empty parking lot.

      It's an office chair isn't it? I'd like to roll up to a departmental meeting in one of those.

    7. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by R2.0 · · Score: 5, Funny

      "I for one welcome our rocket chair creating overlords. "

      In fairness, the picture is wholly unrelated to the story - unless they have started making Barcalounger shaped office chairs and 8 hp piston engines that shoot gigantic flames out the back. Both of which would be AWESOME!!

      --
      "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
    8. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by ByOhTek · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, there is a /slashdot/ use for them.

      Sell them to Microsoft.

      Enclosed building. Gas powered engines. Do the math.

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    9. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by MBGMorden · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's an office chair isn't it? I'd like to roll up to a departmental meeting in one of those.

       

      Depends on which company we're talking about. If Microsoft, I shudder to think what Balmer could do with one of these. It'd be as if millions of programmers suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    10. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by zamboni1138 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Imagine how much less congestion there would be on our highways if we all drove office chairs to work.

      Yes, I do understand that semi trucks would be an issue.

    11. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by e2d2 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Much like the shamwow, it's from Germany and you know those guys make good stuff.

    12. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by Legion_SB · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >> Oh, please. Making the chair is cool. Driving it on public roads is not so cool.

      If they were potentially causing a danger on those streets, then OK. But if they weren't being reckless and disrupting safe traffic, then this deserved a "hey kids, cut that out", not a pair of handcuffs.

      If I made that chair, you bet I'd go find a nice non-busy stretch of road to haul ass on.

      --
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    13. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by The+Grim+Reefer2 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Where do you suggest they go to get "proper training" for a motorized office chair? ;-)

    14. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't tailgate. Tailgaters are idiots who let their impatience sabotage their capacity to speed. Good speeders never tailgate, because they know it reduces their reaction time and maneuverability, increasing the likelihood that they will be forced to come to a stop.

      Aside from which, studies have shown that cultures without traffic laws have more efficient mobility and reduced accidents, dipshit. One of the things that gets created when you have a glut of rules is this sense of entitlement that you have, which eradicates courtesy and leads to impulsive acts of stupidity. Like what you've demonstrated in your anonymous post.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    15. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by Timosch · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Solution: Use a roundabout on slow roads...
      And when leaving the roundabout, who has got priority? The car leaving it, or the one coming in? And anyway, right or left lane?
      There will always be traffic rules, and they are damned necessary. If you allow people to drive around on the highway (or even on the German Autobahn), it will not only result in the loss of their lifes, but also in the threatening and propably loss of others'.

    16. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by ednopantz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Solution: Use a roundabout instead of a 4-way stop.

      Uh.. I have driven in roundabouts and I'll take a stop sign any day of the week.

    17. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Motorized wheelchairs are allowed on the roads, at least the residential streets around here, I don't see much difference.

    18. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by digitig · · Score: 2, Funny

      Aside from which, studies have shown that cultures without traffic laws have more efficient mobility and reduced accidents

      [citation required]

      --
      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
    19. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 2, Informative

      Spoken like a person who never got t-boned by an idiot who didn't pay attention to the stop sign.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    20. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by R2.0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Good engineering accommodates the errors and omissions of users. Bad engineering relies on laws and conventions to overcome inherent systemic flaws. Laws and conventions are, therefore, indicative of bad engineering."

      Good engineering accommodates errors and omissions INSOFAR as it is practical/cost effective. Your solutions all require significantly more capital investment than the ones in existence now.

      There is also a similar hazard in that relying on engineering to make something idiot proof allows the idiots to have a false sense of security, inevitably leading them to strive to newer, previously unimaginable heights of stupidity that the engineers hadn't even thought possible.

      --
      "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
    21. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by Dogtanian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Use a roundabout instead of a 4-way stop.

      You do realise that if there are no traffic regulations, then people are free to drive straight over the roundabout, go the wrong way around it, or use it as a meeting place for a pimped-out-bouncy-suspension car convention?

      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
    22. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 3, Informative

      There were some really good ones I've read, but they were on government run sites and have been taken down. Here are some articles that indirectly support what I'm saying.

      http://www.motorists.org/speedlimits/
      http://www.motorists.org/blog/red-light-cameras/red-light-cameras-increase-accidents-5-studies-that-prove-it/
      http://www.ibiblio.org/rdu/sl-irrel.html

      Enjoy.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    23. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by KDR_11k · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You realize what regulations do? They enforce not only speed limits (wouldn't want some idiot to go 160km/h in a residential area), they also enforce basic vehicle safety standards. Easy example: Parts that fall off or increase the danger for other people in a crash. If your car is so crappy that your trunk cover falls off that's a definite safety hazard and can very well end up killing people. Adorning your car with spikes is a terrible idea, especially if it's done on the front (that you get arrested after killing somebody with them is little consolation to their next of kin!). There's simply too many things that can go wrong when you've got metal hunks of 1t and over moving at speeds in excess of even 30km/h. Humans are NOT naturally capable of handling these things!

      This whole "laws are only about control" bullshit meme is used way too often, I have no idea what people got hit with to get such idiotic ideas. We don't live in a world of Nietzschean supermen, people don't behave on their own and to allow reasonably safe coexistence with that many humans around it's simply necessary to make laws.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    24. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Two people arrive at a 4-way stop at right angles to each other. Who has the right of way? Regulation: The person to your right. Solution: Use a roundabout instead of a 4-way stop.

      Yes because replacing every single 4 way intersection in a residential neighborhood would be so simple, or in a city. EVERY intersection within 6 blocks of me is a 4 way stop, in at congested, 200+ year old city with small houses and tiny streets. PREDATING automobiles. I find your solution laughable and your assertation regarding engineering proposterous given that the road was developed before the automobile.

    25. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by operagost · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The state of New Jersey had (and still has a few) circles (roundabouts), and the biggest problem with them is that you have to steal a huge amount of land through eminent domain to build them. Periodic passing lanes also require real estate, as do merge lanes. Obviously these are not universal solutions.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    26. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by k2r · · Score: 4, Informative

      > I don't see much difference.

      In Germany every motorized vehicle driven on public roads needs to pass a regular safety test*1 , has to have vehicle insurance and you'll need the right driving license.

      Everything else is /very/ illegal.

      The definition of "public roads" includes publicly assessible parking lots.

      That's a set of laws that really makes me feel safer.

      *1) http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Technischer_Ueberwachungsverein&oldid=230576541

    27. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by philspear · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Solution: Use a roundabout instead of a 4-way stop.

      Problem with solution: now instead of a relatively cheap and easy-to-navigate 4 way stop, you have two weeks of construction to put in a roundabout that will cost much more (even assuming none of the 4 property owners object to replacing significant portions of their property with roads).

      So as to make the regulation uneeded, you'll have to replace all 4 way stops with a roundabout. I have no idea how many 4 way stops there are in whatever city you live in, or how much more a 4 way stop costs. I have no idea how long it would take to replace it. I have no idea whether roundabouts are even safer.

      I do know that whatever the answers to all of those questions, your suggestion is absolutely unworkable and absurd, so you must work in a state legislature.

      The laws you're talking about are laws that keep construction and taxes down to realistic levels.

    28. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 2

      Wow, thats actually kindof depressing. What about bicycles?

    29. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by Deaddy · · Score: 3, Informative

      Bicycles are not motorized. However, they still need to have proper lighting (in the dark you have to drive with lights on) and working brakes. Since it's only a misdeamenor, if you don't have these, the fees are pretty low (<50Euro).

    30. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by mikael · · Score: 3, Funny

      ICBC = Inter-continental ballistic chair

      --
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    31. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by janrinok · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How does meeting safety standards have anything to do with your method of propulsion?

      In much the same way that riding a bicycle doesn't require insurance or a driving licence. I'm sorry, what is your question again?

      --
      Have a look at soylentnews.org for a different view
    32. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by RenderSeven · · Score: 4, Funny

      "In fairness, the picture is wholly unrelated to the story"

      ...and the picture isnt taken in August in Germany (note bare trees and winter driving gear) and the driver isnt 17 unless they've been taking East German steroids. Which would ALSO be AWESOME!

    33. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by Bryansix · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not quite there. Speed law is not about safety I will give you that. However the regulations that deal with "RIGHT of WAY" are VERY important. It's not that they just make things predictable; they stop people from asserting a right of way that they should not be asserting. Eventually you will have a merge even in a roundabout. The law says that the traffic already going that way has the right of way and the merging traffic needs to YIELD. If they did not need to yield then both cars would assume the right of way and crash into each other.

      Another rule that is important is people going straight on a street and people turning right. The right turn people have to come to a stop and yield the right of way. If they didn't do that there would be side impact traffic collisions all the time.

    34. Re:So much for the seeds of .... by kaiidth · · Score: 2, Informative

      There' s a picture on this web site, ie. this one.
      It's somewhat disappointing since it's more realistic to say they built a motorised platform, and stuck an office chair on it.

       

      There is also a side-note describing the first German championship in office chair running, which took place in April. The paper also provide a set of increasingly disturbing images of hulking male participants dressed in various pink fluffy bunny type outfits draped in a variety of poses across office chairs... Apparently the motorised approach was not permitted during the championship, although entrants were allowed to customise their chairs with handlebars.

  2. Segway Competitor by bigtallmofo · · Score: 3, Funny

    I bet Dean Kamen is wondering why he wasted his time messing with gyroscopes and other sophisticated electronics. These can probably be made for 1/10th the cost of a Segway and they could probably be made just as maneuverable.

    Sure, you don't sit as highly as you stand but that's probably a good thing overall. Probably gets 200 MPG, too.

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
    1. Re:Segway Competitor by geeknado · · Score: 4, Interesting

      See, this is what /really/ should've been visualized in the Minority Report movie...Millions of office workers rolling to work in their powered office chairs, whisked up buildings and directly to their desks to toil...Silently sliding up to the bar at the end of the day...Ugh. I think I've just visualized the end of legs.

  3. Re:Ahh, the nanny state. by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't this the country that banned potato guns?

    Yes. They kept shooting potatoes at all the motorized office chairs.

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
  4. Rocket chair? by clone53421 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is the picture misleading (i.e. not the chair referred to in the article) or did they do something significantly more than put a lawnmower engine on it?

    --
    Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    1. Re:Rocket chair? by Sven+Tuerpe · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is the photo released by the police.

      --
      http://erichsieht.wordpress.com/category/english/
  5. disconnect by nomadic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You know, confiscation is not "arrest."

    1. Re:disconnect by kellyb9 · · Score: 2, Informative

      German police have confiscated the world's fastest office chair and arrested its 17-year-old inventors.

    2. Re:disconnect by Kozz · · Score: 4, Informative

      FAIL!

      The AP story does not contain the word "arrested" anywhere, it only says that the device was confiscated and the individuals were being investigated.

      --
      I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
    3. Re:disconnect by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Funny

      "The AP story does not contain the word "arrested" anywhere, it only says that the device was confiscated and the individuals were being investigated."

      Well, you apparently read the story - there's your first problem...

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  6. Cause for pause by Broken+Toys · · Score: 2, Funny

    I hope this doesn't affect the funding from IKEA for my rocket propelled plastic lawn chair.

    I'm calling it the Blstöv.

  7. Re:Images on front page by cowscows · · Score: 4, Funny

    Maybe you should just get over it. It's just a little picture, what's the problem? Did an image kill your dog or something?

    --

    One time I threw a brick at a duck.

  8. Re:Images on front page by truthsearch · · Score: 4, Funny

    Give him a break. It takes a very long time to download an image over a 300 baud modem.

    And I suggest you stay off his lawn.

    --
    Developers: We can use your help.
  9. Re:Images on front page by Hatta · · Score: 2, Informative

    I found a workable solution. I went to my user preferences -> Index -> sections and set the Idle section to display only headlines.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  10. Re:ACHTUNG! by megaditto · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well you gotta nip that sort of youthful "creativity" in the butt.

    Remember that German kid who wanted to become an architect? They let it slide, and the next thing you know, he was annexing Poland.

    --
    Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
  11. now this is a great idea by pointbeing · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes. They kept shooting potatoes at all the motorized office chairs.

    And a new Olympic sport is born.

    --
    we see things not as as they are, but as we are.
    -- anais nin
  12. How I yearn for the days by nightfire-unique · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I suppose this is probably one of those "happy-days" fantasies, but how cool would it be to live back in an age where regulation didn't exist. Where danger was all around. Where you could invent, and wow people. Where accidents happened. Where imagination was your only limit.

    The lawyer has replaced the priest.

    --
    A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
    1. Re:How I yearn for the days by Otter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You'd most likely have died in infancy from improperly pasteurized milk. Pretty freaking cool, huh?

      --
      What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
    2. Re:How I yearn for the days by nightfire-unique · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You'd most likely have died in infancy from improperly pasteurized milk. Pretty freaking cool, huh?

      And yet, somehow they got by. People exercised their own judgment, self control and personal responsibility. No government body was looking out for them; they simply smelled the milk before they drank.

      --
      A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
    3. Re:How I yearn for the days by gad_zuki! · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >And yet, somehow they got by.

      Sure did, except your mom had 9 kids of which 5 survived into adulthood.

      Good old days!

  13. Re:Images on front page by Translation+Error · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey, maybe he's a Protestant and doesn't believe in icons! Ever think of that?

    --
    When someone says, "Any fool can see ..." they're usually exactly right.
  14. Re:ACHTUNG! by Tom · · Score: 3, Insightful

    He was austrian. You know, we are very precise and stuff over here.

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  15. Re:Open post to the mod who by AndGodSed · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I second your last sentence.

    Daring is a dying art. Someone - I forget who - said "Youth is wasted on the young."

    Today I am thinking it is more of "youthfulness is suppressed in the young."

    I want my kids to do things like this one day, and guide them rather than stop them completely.

    --

    Seven Days with Ubuntu Unity

  16. Picture by Sven+Tuerpe · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is a picture of the actual vehicle on the Web. It seems that the office chair really constitutes just a minor component of it, which becomes obvious if you compare the vehicle to the racing chairs used in official championships (page in Germany, I'm sorry).

    --
    http://erichsieht.wordpress.com/category/english/
    1. Re:Picture by jadin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Why couldn't the editors use the actual vehicle? It actually looks pretty cool, the sensational jet engine photo just lowers the overall nerd factor. It also makes the story far more debatable, any chair with flames out the back will obviously be stopped by police in short order, but the engineered one you linked, much less likely.

      Oh, right. This is idle.

  17. Re:Maybe good in the straight by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 2, Funny

    yeah but I wonder what kind of time the Stig could set around the track?

    --
    Non impediti ratione cogitationus.