[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFVECjF0T5Q]
Unsuspecting office workers beware. You may already be in the cross-hairs of a ping-pong ball launching robot. This covert robot hangs out on the other side of a suspended ceiling, waiting for its operator to unleash the fury. When put into action a hatch in a ceiling tile is raised and balls are launched at a cowering cube-dweller.
It looks like the balls are launched at a reasonable speed and won’t hurt anyone. The next generation of this bot should do a better job of integrating the trap door and be quieter. This would be a lot more fun if the victim couldn’t figure out where the heck that ball just came from.
[via BotJunkie]
Does it aim or just fire based on repeating the pattern shown in the video?
Nice ubuntu desktops as well :D
I watched this back and forth and couldn’t figure why people in this video are laughing. Must be a part of some alien corporate culture?
Make it look like a cat…
Have a spinning bar or cross drop down out of the hatch then pour the ping pong balls on it so they fly off at random directions.
If it had a motion sensor and the ability to aim at objects in it’s view, it would be amazing!
Could easily mod to have it fire at various angles along one axis by bouncing off the ceiling tile flap at different angles
Yeah, this doesn’t even rate as a “nice try”. Why do they think it’s so funny?
It was way funnier on Captain Kangaroo. Box of balls, trapdoor, string, pulley… done.
Technology isn’t a fix for a lame-o sense of funny.
I imagined something like the drop-down sentry turrets from Half-Life 1 (They pop out from a ceiling tile-like panel to surprise the player and rain destruction, etc.), but alas…
gay…
It would have been funnier if it dumped all of the balls.
It would be funnier if it was more stealth. Also, firing one or two before closing up, with a timer in the realm of hours.
I found it kind of lame simply because he was still able to stand there. It should have made him run in terror and have to close the door while watching his office get destroyed by a shower of pingpong balls.
Pretty lame…
Next version should have:
It needs to be able to angle the trap door to bounce the balls in set angles. and the trap door should shut right after the ball hits it. Then the victim wouldn’t know where it came from. Should have the balls above the firing mech and be gravity fed for less complexity. It could also have a relentless mode. Faster load and fire. doesn’t need to be fast shots. just shoot the ping pong balls one after another without any delay. Rain of balls onto the victim.
Would be nice to have joystick control to aim :)
Better idea – think about how fire sprinklers work. There’s lots of them in the ceiling to spread the water.
So make lots of small units that simply drop pingpong balls out the ceiling through pingpong ball sized holes.
I’m sure you could work out how to make it motion activated too. Set the devices off when someone walks under one.
Then put them in the hallway. For added danger, fill the pingpong balls with resin or use golf balls and install at the top of a stairwell ;)
“So make lots of small units that simply drop pingpong balls out the ceiling through pingpong ball sized holes.”
Yes, I think this would be a better idea. Have a hole that opens up and drops 1 or 2 through then closes (good if you can hide the hole well)
C’mon guys you salivate over a stinking usb nerf cannon! while the implementation was a little lack luster the effort that went into this has to be recognized.I do feel they would have been better off not turning his office upside down…just let him sit there and work maybe wait till he’s in a conference call or something then fire.
Indeed, while it might not be perfect, I laughed with them.
Good bit of effort for a joke. Next generation I’m sure will be even better.
Willow Garage? What does that company actually do? All I see are pranks and hacks from them but their website is cryptic. What do they make money from?
Man, the recession must *really* be affecting business to be able to put that much effort into a lousy prank. $1.45 and six minutes would have put a bucket of oatmeal on his head!
Stupid.
Hey good post! I liked that.