Basilisk? Nope, just your run-of-the-mill giant serpentine robot build. This build aims to recreate Titanoboa, a prehistoric snake which measured more than fifty feet long and weighted over a ton. They’re well on their way to completing the goal, as what you see above is fully operational, lacking only cosmetic niceties which would only serve to make the beast less horrifying.
The video after the shows the snake getting round an open space, presumably at the eatArt headquarters in Vancouver. You may remember the team from one of their other builds also featured in that clip, the Mondo Spider. Eventually, the snake will have a rider just like the spider does, sitting in a saddle mounted just behind the head. There’s few details about the hardware, but we know it’s hydraulic, and that they raised $10k to make the build possible.
For some reason seeing these bots interact gives us flashbacks to childhood cartoons. Is it possible the eatArt crew has been watching too many old G.I. Joe cartoons and the like?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocyhbij9JYQ&w=470]
Nuke it from orbit!
its the only way to be sure
shame it doesnt seem to move the way a snake does but instead moves by wheels on the underside.
also: it looks like these guys have WAY too much fun.
Realistic snake movement would be pretty difficult to replicate. Snakes also adapt their movement according to terrain so they use the least amount of energy possible, though they probably wouldn’t implement it to that extent. Very interesting animals snakes are.
Are you sure? It looked to me like the wheels were unpowered, and the curving of the body section was actually causing the movement.
at least it slithers :)
I’ve never seen that expression spelled with “v”s.
On topic, that snake is super cool. It makes me want to integrate some servos into a Rubik’s snake.
LOL when I heard the popping noise I thought the poor old snake has arthritis real bad,until I seen what was making the noise anyway. I wonder if they will get $10K worth of discovery out of it? In the means time I guess I better sharpen my shovel so it can severe hydraulic lines.
On a side note, don’t mind the guy riding the giant mechanical spider. o_o
I know right, I want to see more of the giant spider
Ditto that, that guy controlling it looked like the bad guy from wild wild west.
At least I wasnt the only one. I was more interested in that than the spider, but dont get many good viewings of it.
Off to their site to search!
Plenty of video of the Mondo Spider on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Mondo+Spider&aq=f
Honestly I’d love to ride that to work every day provided they could speed it up a little. (Have to wonder if traction is the issue watching it walk.)
I really love the Spider robot that the guy is riding in. Thats really cool.
i didn’t comprehend the snake to be very large until i saw the guy on the spider as a reference then i had a HOLY @#$$%$ moment. wow!
i’d like to see that at the next burning man
It was at this years Burning Man…
when i first saw the spider i thought it was a model of that spider from toy story(with the head on it) then i realised just how big these things are…
Great idea, the driver should sit within a large fiberglass doll head modeled after said Toy Story character. Mega creepy.
“I HAVE RIDDEN THE MIGHTY MOON WORM!!”, Oh, no wait, he was riding the spider, anyway that is too cool!
That is the workshop of nightmares..
..or dreams.
I’d like to see the snake given some kind of skin and put in the sand.
I bet they could get it to squirm its way through the desert at a pretty terrifying speed.
The “rollers” on the bottom of Titanoboa are not powered. The motion of the snake propels it forward.
The Mondo Spider requires slip at the shoes in order to be able to turn and to prevent the legs from fighting each other.
The creation with the giant wheel in the background is called “Daisy the Solar Powered Tricycle”.
Not that it matters… but your usage of “heevy-jeevies” is flawed… …swap the v’s for b’s.
mods… please remove. I had a misuse of the
Not that it matters… but your usage of “heevy-jeevies” is flawed… …swap the v’s for b’s.
i want the spider :)
The Spice Must Flow!
OTOH, wait till DARPA gets hold of this.
One ACME robot snake with extra animatronics + thermal infrared + some seismic sensors + AI + laser ionisation based stun field and you can have your very own “Mongolian Death Worm”. :-)
surprised no one has made a skynet joke yet. I guess since this is hackaday, its probably overused
No, Skynet merely removes all references.