17′ Dancing Robo-Giraffe

DMC-FX7

ƒ/2.8

5.8 mm

1/15

200

At RobonNexus today. The underbelly speakers were playing “The Robots” by Kraftwerk. The propane tanks can recharge the batteries. You guessed it – she was at Burning Man.

The lawnmower engine and three car alternators are in the back. All motion runs off one 3HP electric motor from a floor scrubber… It should be able to walk on a 1 horsepower engine (1 horse for one metal giraffe =).

The design was a pure scale up of a handheld plastic toy walking giraffe.

8 responses to “17′ Dancing Robo-Giraffe”

Gwênlyn

Oct 8, 2005 at 11:11 pm

We’re functioning automatic
And we are dancing mechanic

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Todd Huffman

Oct 9, 2005 at 6:42 am

What I like the most is it actually lifts up its legs to walk. I have seen a few robots of its size in the past, who merely shuffle along.

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Acid Zebra

Oct 10, 2005 at 1:07 pm

anything robotic with propane tanks automatically conjures ‘burning man’ images for me 🙂

It reminds me a bit of the senster:
"Edward Ihnatowicz was a Cybernetic Sculptor active in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. His ground-breaking sculptures explored the interaction between his robotic works and the audience, and reached their height with The Senster, a large (15 feet long), hydraulic robot commissioned by the electronics giant, Philips, for their permanent showplace, the Evoluon, in Eindhoven in 1970."

The senster used four mics and two HP 10 Ghz doppler units to interact with the audience, reacting to sound and shying away from loud noises. It was controlled by a Philips P9201 computer, a 12 bit bit-slice system with 8k core and paper tape for the external memory.

8k core and paper tape!

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swankspike

Oct 11, 2005 at 2:59 am

I saw her at Burning Man. She walked by my camp (Bioluminati) once or twice!

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grevydude

Oct 21, 2005 at 1:43 am

Hi there!

I’m the one who built this thing. Nice to see folks appreciating it online! I hope to have an official web site for it soon.

BTW, it’s a "he"…though that’s only apparent at certain showings. (grin)

Want more info? Want to know how you can help the Giraffe become more complete? Want to add some art to it? Email me!

Zebra4@cox.net

Reply
jurvetson

Oct 21, 2005 at 4:21 am

Grevy-zebra-dude: so glad you found us. I was wondering what that central hydraulic ram was for…. 😉

Acid Zebra: you’d like this giraffe guy…. And speaking of core memory, I have a photo set of some of my collection…

I have a Halloween idea for both of you…

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Sameli

Feb 2, 2006 at 2:18 pm

Wow!

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jurvetson

Mar 20, 2008 at 11:31 pm

update: Big Dog is a big step forward for robotic quadrapeds… For realism, they even kick the dog… =)

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17′ Dancing Robo-Giraffe

8 responses to “17′ Dancing Robo-Giraffe”

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