Whether they run, jump or swim, there are plenty of robots around to be fearful of. None have quite exacerbated our arachnophobia as much as Robugtix's T8 octopod, however. The 3D-printed spiderbot not only looks the part, but employs 26 servo motors to drive its unnervingly life-like movement. Bigfoot's baked-in "Inverse Kinematics Engine" deals with all of the background computations, so you don't have to be a coding genius to work it. Instead, users send "short and simple commands" to the bot via wireless XBee or any other method you can hook up to its Rx / Tx pins. Expected to ship at the end of September, the T8 is available now for a special pre-order price of $1,350, and you can add $85 to that if you want one of Robugtix's analog-stick controllers for real-time direction. If that sounds a bit pricey, there's another option in the much cuter $250 iitsii hexapod, which is predicted to ship late August. Check out the shudder-inducing video of the T8 below, then follow it up with the iitsii demo to help you forget.
Filed under: Robots
Source: Robugtix
News flash! We have finally located the elusive Sasquatch. Well, not really. But now that I have your attention, you can at least take a moment to look at these nifty Bigfoot vinyl figures.
Each one measures about 11″ tall, and comes in four colors – classic brown, black, green, and purple. Now before you get all uppity about how Bigfoot isn’t purple, how can you say that for sure? Have you ever seen a Squatch up close and personal? Didn’t think so.
These Bigfoot vinyl toys are each being sold in limited editions over at Giant Robot, where they’re going for $95(USD) each. Better hurry up and get over there before they become as hard to find as an actual Bigfoot.
Last November, a group of scientists claimed that they had discovered DNA evidence of the existence of the fabled Bigfoot. The scientists promised that they would be publishing a paper outlining their findings and if you’ve been wondering where exactly that paper is, that mystery is now solved. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the scientists had a difficult time finding a publication that would actually publish their findings.
According to Ars Technica, the researchers ended up having to purchase their own online journal to be able to publish their findings. You can download the research paper yourself if you feel like coughing up $30 for what apparently are rather questionable results. While the researchers claim that their DNA evidence proves the existence of Bigfoot, the results seemed off to Ars Technica.
Ars’ John Timmer has a background in biological research and looked over the results and came away feeling like the results have significant issues. He says that where the nuclear genome is concerned “the results are a mess.” He points out that sometimes the tests picked up human DNA and other times human DNA wasn’t found. He also notes that sometimes the tests failed altogether. He also points out test results that show patches of double and single stranded DNA intermixed. Timmer says all this suggests is that the researchers have are samples of modern human DNA intermingled with some other contaminant.
So yet again, Sasquatch continues to elude us.
[via Ars Technica]
We're used to a lot of sturm und drang when monster trucks come out to play, so it's almost a shock when we don't get any -- and that's what both Ford and EnerSys pulled off earlier this fall. By outfitting Bigfoot 20 with 36 of EnerSys' batteries as well as a 350HP electric motor, the duo has developed what's claimed to be the first proper EV monster truck. The resulting prototype is defined more by what you don't hear than what you do, as you'll see in the video after the break; despite its giant wheels, Bigfoot is so quiet that the cars being crushed are louder. Our childhood selves would be heartbroken at the lack of vroom-vroom sounds, but we'll admit to wanting the all-electric process to go beyond parades and reach live monster truck shows -- if it preserves the planet, our hearing and a weekend tradition at the same time, we can't object.
Continue reading Watch an all-electric Bigfoot monster truck crush cars... quietly (video)
Filed under: Transportation
Via: Autoblog
Source: Bigfoot 4x4
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.
Science. We like to think of it as a force for good. But, in the wrong hands, this isn't always the case. Something we're reminded of all too well this week. As a counter to that negative vibe, we are also reminded that for every Yin, there is a Yang, and this comes in the form of some developments in med-science that could mean new technology options for the blind. Then there's the Bigfoot DNA and shape-shifting robots, of course. This is alt-week.
Continue reading Alt-week 12.01.12: Bigfoot DNA, bombs on the moon and shapeshifting robots
If you ever watched the 80s flick Harry and the Hendersons, you may wondered if Bigfoot could actually exist. I can’t say one way or another if the mythical Sasquatch is a living creature or nothing more than a figment of the imagination. A group of scientists from claim to have concluded a five-year DNA study that is under peer review and confirmed the existence of Bigfoot.
According to the scientists, they have been able to sequence 20 whole mitochondrial genomes and have used next-generation sequencing to obtain three whole nuclear genomes from samples claimed to be from a Sasquatch. The scientists say that DNA evidence suggests that Bigfoot is a human relative.
The scientists claim that the creature known as Bigfoot came to be approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid crossbreed of modern Homo sapiens and an unknown primate species. The scientists state that data indicates the Sasquatch was the result of males from an unknown hominin species crossing with female Homo sapiens.
Read more about the scientists’ study in their press release here.
I don’t know whether or not Bigfoot really exists. What I do know is that we find new species no one has ever seen with remarkable regularity. I’m not ready to rule out the existence of Bigfoot, but I’m also not ready to go running around the woods at night hunting for a hairy, smelly, primate.
A researcher from Idaho State University, Jeffrey Meldrum, is set to use a scientific approach to trying to determine once and for all if Bigfoot is real. Meldrum, a professor of anatomy and anthropology at the university, is trying to raise $300,000 to build a remote-control blimp that will carry a thermal imaging system. The idea is the blimp will float above forests searching for evidence of Bigfoot.
If the dirigible finds evidence of the beast, the location would be sent to people on the ground who would follow-up and try to catch an in-person glimpse of the fabled Sasquatch. Either that or the blimp could route them to their demise at the hands of a hungry and angry primate.
[Yahoo News via The Register]
This story should serve as a warning to all the fun-loving pranksters out there. While I have nothing against pranks, I do think it’s not a very wise thing to take things too far.
Image credit: U.S. Army Materiel Command; Associated Press
The image above is actually of a soldier in a Ghillie suit. While some think that the suits make people look like Bigfoot, I certainly don’t, but maybe that opinion might change when it’s dark out.
Anyway, a Montana jokester named Randy Lee Tenley donned a Ghillie suit recently so he can scare up some people by pretending to be Bigfoot. He allegedly darted out into the middle of the road (while roaring, I bet) – but his prank went horribly wrong when two cars hit him in the darkness of the night.
Montana Highway Patrol Lt. Col. Butch Huseby told the Los Angeles Times: “What we know so far is that we had a couple of guys out, allegedly trying to prompt a sighting of Bigfoot. This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. Really.”
The incident is still under investigation though. And while our sympathies go out to Tenley’s family, let’s hope future pranksters will take this as a warning sign and not take the jokes too far.
[via LA Times]
When we were growing up, our parents always told us not to play with our food. But the results of such dalliances can have proven to be quite impressive from time to time. How could you not love a portrait of Sasquatch, made entirely from beef jerky?
In celebration of National Beef Jerky Day yesterday (who knew there was such an awesome holiday?), mosaic artist Jason Mecier was commissioned to make this portrait using 80 bags of the chewy, leathery meat product. Mmmm. Leathery meat. He attached all of the pieces using hot glue and other adhesives, though, so that probably makes them a bit less tasty.
[via Laughing Squid]