Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Have you ever thought about taking a Mini Cooper apart and building a giant robot out of all the parts?

... well, someone did. checkit:

I don't really have much to say about this ... well, other than "OH MY CRAP!" ... so I'll just post what the dudes website says and link to it.

Vehicle to autonomous biped robot conversion for the Mini Cooper r50.

I first had the vision to build a robot while working as an engineer on the old Mini Coopers in the late 1960s. There were no real robots at the time of course, so it was purely science-fiction. But I always believed a robot would be the most natural complement to the automobile - a full biped, intelligent version having great strength, dexterity and a library of mechanical knowledge. I imagined a robot with the ability to repair vehicles, direct traffic and watch over high-accident crossroads to preempt accidents.

This ambition started to look possible when work began on the new Mini. I've always believed BMW overbuilds many of their parts, so the over-building of certain Mini applications for my robotics use went unnoticed. In 1998, I began tests in a remote location outside Oxford.

In 2000 I thought my formal connection to Mini might be severed when Rover was sold by BMW. Luckily, BMW chose to retain the Mini brand. Subsequently, a few engineers would need to stay in England - Oxford to be exact. I was slated for retirement and was originally from the Oxford area so it raised little suspicion when I offered to stay. From then on, progress was swift.

This thing is FREAKING NUTS. Click here to go to the website that has all the information about this thing. Don't go there before you watch this video though. This has to be fake. Or some kind of dream come true. Or the beginning of that robot armageddon thing we were all promised by the governor of California in a little movie you might remember called Terminator

this has to be fake.

*Update*
It's a sad day. This is, indeed, fake. If you were ever a big fan of Subservient Chicken, you've got the same people to thank for this. damn. Click here.