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'Transformer' BMW Turns Into A Giant Robot (vice.com)
An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes Motherboard:
Real-life Transformers are apparently already a thing thanks to a Turkish company called Letvision. They can't do battle with Decepticons, but they can turn their heads from side to side and move their arms and fingers and, erm, shoot smoke from between their legs. Oh, and they can do the whole changing from a 2013 BMW to an upright robot bit [video]. That's pretty cool, too.
But of course there's a catch. Each of the four available Transformers (which Letvision gave the copyright-friendly name of "Letrons") has a functional steering wheel, but you can only "drive" them remotely because Letvision stuffed the seating spaces with the hydraulics and electronics needed for the conversion.
Letvision's demo video has the clever title "Rise of LETRONS", and shows the vehicle spontaneously beginning its transformation after a newscaster announces, "Our country is under invasion by extraterrestrials."
But of course there's a catch. Each of the four available Transformers (which Letvision gave the copyright-friendly name of "Letrons") has a functional steering wheel, but you can only "drive" them remotely because Letvision stuffed the seating spaces with the hydraulics and electronics needed for the conversion.
Letvision's demo video has the clever title "Rise of LETRONS", and shows the vehicle spontaneously beginning its transformation after a newscaster announces, "Our country is under invasion by extraterrestrials."
Well that's rather disappointing. It doesn't so much as transform as the side panels pop out and it rears up on a single pivot near the back wheels. When it does something a little more like the below transformer (and walks) I'll be a little more impressed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxa2T8_NDos
Serious question: Why can't they just invent a car that folds up into a smaller car so it's easier to park?
you can drive it so its just a giant rc car.
It looks fucking retarded. Can't do anything. It's super slow. Not cool in any way. Why did they even bother? I don't get it. Lame project after lame project, set to dramatic/epic music... and it's just shit. Don't even bother.
when you need to change the thermostat and the water pump.
Company makes big, expensive, flashy toys.
Company makes the slashdot front page.
Mission accomplished.
Especially when it's used as a justification in an argument ("sorry, that's not a thing"). It's even worse than abuse of the word 'literal.'
Living in Germany turks and people of turkish descent are a part of everyday life. We've got roughly 3 Million people with turkish heritage, many in 2nd and 3rd generation, and turkish is the second most spoken language here.
What I've long since discovered is that when Turks go dorky, they clear the bar for dorkyness in an instant. :-)
The video and the tacky pseudo-transformer it features is about as turkish as it gets in that regard.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
"Counter" is not a noun.
Unless you meant "instead of making a proper counter, he used a binary-shift-left over a 16 bit register", or "instead of making a proper counter, he stuck a plank of wood on a pile of cinder-blocks."
This is as annoying as saying "reversed" to mean "reverse engineered"
Car mode looks fine, but the humanoid mode looks like the robot is standing in the unaltered rear third of the car, and the arms and head look useless.
If it can't walk or pick up things, it's not good enough yet.
This one looks like it's not quite as advanced as this one: http://mashable.com/2014/10/23...
Only a human-sized model last I checked, but far more functional.
While a cool project for the nerd world to enjoy, it is basically a full size version of a McDonald's Happy Meal tranformer. A far cry from the original hasbro toys, and obviously nothing ever approaching the complexity displayed in the movies. We can wait to welcome our new robot overlords, this one isn't a concern lol.
This is complete shit garbage
How is a car not already a robot?
I teach robotics, but I'm constantly mystified at people's definition of robot. Can anyone explain how a backhoe is not a robot? What about a printer? Air conditioner? Blender? Bread maker?
It amuses me that people can scavenge a bunch of parts from "non-robots" to make their robot. But they don't think of the original item as a robot.
My clothes washer has a computer that allows it to weigh the load, sense fabric type, inject more or less water, heat the water if necessary, drain water, inject detergent, spin/agitate, lock/release door, and report realtime progress. What more does it have to do to be a robot? Fold the clothes?
Most cars today are drive by wire in many ways. From throttle to brakes, you tell the card what to do then its brain does a bazillion senses and calculations to make that happen the most efficient or safest or fastest or smoothest way. It mixes the fuel and air just right, it applies just the right amount of pressure and monitors traction. It warns you before you back into something. It charges your cellphone, and allows you to control music from your separate MP3 player. It adjusts suspension and fires airbags under controlled circumstances. It wipes your windshield. It turns on lights automatically and turns them off automatically. Automatic opening/closing doors, low tire pressure sensors, climate zones, automatic seat positioning, automatic transmission. The list is endless. How is this not a robot?