Alexei Burikov's remote-controlled spy turtles

Rogue spy dolphins in the Gulf Coast be damned, head of the biology department at Rostov-on-Don State Pedagogical University, Alexei Burikov, believes remote-controlled tactical turtles are totally the wave of the future. Apparently he thinks that by attaching a device that emits vibrations to the animal's shell, one can instruct a turtle where to go; when paired with a camera and transmitter the turtle can thusly be used for anything from wildlife observation to covert tactical operations. We just wonder whether he's been studying Alistair Hennessey's moves a little too closely.

[Photos via Zhelezyaka]

[tortoise @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Well, the tortoise did beat the hare in a race. Maybe a three-toed sloth would show some interesting jungle footage.

[Old Number 7 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

When do they receive their ninja training? When they hit their teens?

[hh83917 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Its time to teach them turtles some ninjitsu or some sort... oh, and they missed out the rat

[John @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I wonder if you tell them where to go with starlogo(http://education.mit.edu/starlogo/)...

[Papercutninja @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I, for one, welcome our new robot-toroise overlords.

[Richard @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

hahaha. Nice Zizou reference.

[treouser @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

That's not a Zissou reference. It's a Simpson's reference.

Goddamnit intern, you don't get an A.

[Sasha @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

It's all nice and col, until you read the last paragraph of the article which states that these could be used not only as spies but as weapons too, by mounting explosives on the back of the turtle. that's horrible.

[Kaptain Korolev @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

FW 100
RT 90
FW 100
PEN UP

[jc @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

do they self-destruct when detected?

[PDubNYC @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

no, it's a beaten-to-death Simpson's reference. Please, that horse became glue long ago. Find new jokes.

[shineman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Damn! And here I was investing in sharks with lasers on their heads!

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

It's definetly from Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Look at number two on his list.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000156/

[Ed @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Surely he would've heard of acoustic kitty...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty

[Ryan Block @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Jeez, PDubNYC, it was a freaking Life Aquatic reference. Try Google before showing other people up next time.

[beanspants1 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

The "overlords" comment is from some old movie first, but most people who say it in reference to the simpsons:

homer goes into space, breaks open a bag of chips, and then flies around eating the chips. his head breaks open an ant farm, and then they switch to video feed with the newsguy, Kent Brockman. Kent sees the ants, who are close to the camera and look large, and assumes that the space shuttle has been taken over by space ants, and welcomes the new ant overlords.

the episode came out in like 2000 or earlier, before the life aquatic was filmed. now, if you want to quote the life aquatic, better say it exactly as it came out of the movie, or find a quote that wasn't referenced by the simpsons first.

[Johnny @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

#17

there ARE no quotes that haven't been referenced by the simpsons! the simpsons have said and done everything! the shows been on a ridiculous number of seasons!

now i could claim to be quoting south park, but they said it in different words. . .

i should say something on topic huh.

remote-controlled tactical turtles ARE the wave of the future, you're tripping if you dont think so.