Technabob » snake

Dogs and Robot Snakes to Team Up for Rescue Missions

Conner Flynn — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:00:42 +0000

Dogs are pretty good at rescue operations. They can be trained to sniff out survivors in a disaster area and they can traverse some terrain that humans can’t in half the time. However even dogs have problems in some situations. What dogs need are little robot buddies that they can deploy. Like robot snakes.

Lets say that the dog encounters a tough obstacle. Not a problem. He just deploys a robot snake to do the job. Now you have dogs, humans and robot snakes on the job. That combo should cover more ground and thus save more lives.

That’s the thinking behind this unusual project from Carnegie Mellon University’s Biorobotics Lab who have teamed up with Ryerson University’s Network-Centric Applied Research Team (NCART) Lab. This tactic has a lot of promise. Plus, the idea of dogs deploying robot snakes is just plain cool.

[via ieee Spectrum]

Snake Watch Gives Your Wrist a Case of Tapeworm

Technabob — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:00:52 +0000

You’ve got to love some of the wacky watch concepts over on the Tokyoflash Design Blog. I’m particularly amused by the latest design from our old pal Peter Fletcher, which gets its inspiration from that mobile phone “Snake.”

While I probably spent more hours playing this on my old Nokia 6200 phone than anything else, I actually remember playing a version many years earlier on my Atari 2600, called Surround, and then later with the arcade TRON Lightcycle battle.

The cool thing about the Snake Watch is that the same pixel block snake that you played the game with is the time display. Look carefully, and you’ll notice that the snake trail on the watch above spells out “12:45.” Neat. When the time is not being displayed, the snake moves around the screen constantly, to keep your eyeballs occupied, and to act as a screen saver. Not that I think a watch display actually needs a screen saver.

The watch offers up two types of digits – one where the lines are truly continuous, and another where the numbers can have dots in the middle. Definitely more legible, but not representative of the snakes’ slithering. In digits/dot mode, I guess this snake can jump!

As is always the case with designs up on the TF Design Blog, you can vote for this watch if you’d like to see it produced.

In the mean time, you can occupy your time with an actual game of Snake, right now.

Titanoboa is 50 Feet of Slithering Robot Snake, Looks Hungry

Conner Flynn — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:00:39 +0000

If this robot snake looks prehistoric to you, that’s because it is modeled after the actual prehistoric snake that shares the same name: Titanoboa. This 50-foot giant weighs over 2,000-pounds and yes it slithers around, making humans run.

Scary as this monstrosity is, it’s creators aren’t finished. They want to outfit it in better skin and give it the ability to move underwater. Like the real snake, Titanoboa will eventually support a rider, the Mondo Spider, which the same group also built. It can also be seen in the video below.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

God only knows what they will build next when they tire of playing with their robot spiders and snakes. I would say that these people need to be stopped, except that if I do say it, they will probably send these metal demons to my house and I will be slowly digested over 100 years in this snake’s belly.

One of the creators says that Titanoboa is supposed to make people contemplate historical climate change. No, that didn’t really work for me. It just makes me want to kill it and save humanity, even though I’d probably just hide in the corner and whimper when that failed.

[via TDW Geeks via Geekologie]

While Humans Occupy Wall Street, Snake Occupies ATM

Conner Flynn — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:00:51 +0000

I’m not saying that snakes are smart or anything, but I find it odd that while so many humans are occupying…everything, that this snake just happened to find itself in an ATM machine. Is he showing his solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street group?

In any case, banks have so many snakes in their boardrooms, that one was bound to get stuck in an ATM sooner or later. Here’s how this story goes: A man goes to get some cash from a Caja Madrid bank machine in Llodio, Alava, Spain. Next thing he knows, his cash appears in the slot, along with a snake!

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The snake struck at his hand, but given the current state of the world economy, he grabbed his money anyway. It’s just what you have to do in that situation. All ended well though. He called the police and a bank manager activated the cash release that had trapped the snake.

The snake was presumably returned to the board room on the top floor of the bank, where he sipped champagne, lit a cigar with a thousand dollar bill and made jokes about the 99%.

[via Neatorama]

Youtube Easter Egg Lets You Play Snake on the Video Screen

Lambert Varias — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:50:46 +0000

…not Metal Gear Snake, but the plain old cellphone game Snake. Amazingly enough, all you have to do is tap or hold the Left arrow key on your keyboard, and a snake will appear, along with dots that you can eat to grow larger.

Don’t believe it? Watch this video. Or better yet, play Snake on the video while Snake is being played in the video. That’s double proof.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

One more thing: I’ve verified that the trick works even if the video isn’t filed under ‘Gaming’. You can try it out on this video. And no, it doesn’t seem to work with embedded videos.

Again, just click on the video once to “activate it”, then tap or hold the Left arrow key. I can’t believe we haven’t heard about this before even though it’s that simple to unlock – heck, the Left arrow key is the rewind button for YouTube clips.

[via Kotaku]

Metal Gear Solid Psp Gameplay: Peace Walker, Gadget Lover

Lambert Varias — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:25:00 +0000

If there’s one thing that keeps Snake’s philosophical super spy saga fresh, it’s the gadgets. The upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PSP is no different. Kotakuite Crimsondramon shared a link to a recently posted gameplay video that shows a bunch of weird yet practical gadgets that will aid Snake (and the other Snakes) in his latest adventure.

Some of the gadgets include a reverse parachute thingy that can be used to rescue or abduct people. It looks like it takes quarry up to a chopper, and for some reason it works even indoors! Enough with the spoilers, enjoy the video!

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

A freakin’ request for a brick on the head. Classic Kojima. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will be out this May.

Abyss LED Table Lamp Looks Like My Lower Intestine

Technabob — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:30:21 +0000

I don’t care if this lamp conjures up memories of my colonoscopy. It’s still cool.

The undulating twists and turns of Kundalini’s Abyss table lamp may look a bit like your intestinal tract, but there’s something about the bendy organic form that I find mesmerizing.

The Abyss can be adjusted into a variety of shapes, thanks to its flexible segmented construction. Hiding beneath its opalescent polycarbonate skin are a number of bright white LEDs which provide clean, green illumination.

Can’t get the image of my lower intestine out of your mind? Perhaps you’d prefer to think about the lamp as something a little less slimy – maybe a snake or an earthworm.

You can find the Abyss Lamp from Y Lighting for about $500.

Play a Tilty Game of Snake on a Monome

Karen M. — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:30:19 +0000

Do you remember the oh-so-low-low-tech game Snake? Now it can be played on a monome with an accelerometer. You don’t even need a controller, since the tilting motion is all you need to control the snake’s movements.

Check out the video here, which demonstrates how intuitive the game becomes when all you have to do is tilt the board to make the snake slither and slide around the pixelated board.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

In case you’ve never heard of a monome, it’s a device that has a grid of backlit buttons that can be used for a variety of things, including games. They don’t make a whole lot of them, but you can check availability and try to convince them to make more at the monome website.

Even with the fancy device, though, this game doesn’t seem all that action-packed. And yet, on the faster levels, I’ve been known to blow through large chunks of time playing Snake on my cell phone without being able to stop…

[via Make:]

Roboboa Robotic Snake Comes to America

Technabob — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:49:33 +0000

The latest robotic critter from RoboSapien creator WowWee is the reptilian Roboboa. The snake-like robot can roam along the floor and raises its front end up like a real Boa Constrictor.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The Roboboa not only can slither around thanks to its snake-like articulated body, it can serve a variety of fun an practical purposes too. The robot has electronic “vision” sensors which let it track and react to your movements. Thanks to an LED illuminated head, the boa can even be used as a movable desk lamp. It’s also got a built in alarm clock feature that’s sure to wake you from your deep slumber. Beyond its automated reactions, you can program your own custom sequences using an included 40-function remote control.

The robot has been available in Europe for a couple of weeks now, and can now be purchased in North America too. It’s $99 from the WowWee Online Shop.

[via RobotsRule]