The Robotic Giraffe

It's a bit hard to get noticed in all the mayhem of the Burning Man festival, so Linsday Lawlor did what any other self respecting engineer would do and built himself a 17-foot tall robotic giraffe. Named Rave Raffe, the huge robot runs off of three 450-amp batteries that are charged by a 12-horsepower propane engine. The whole unit can run for about 8 hours at Raffe's top walking speed: 1 mile per hour. The 1700 pound robot has a pneumatic powered 8-foot neck, 40 strobe lights, 400 LEDs and a killer speaker system. The bot walks by moving two of its wheeled legs forward at a time, and then locking them with hydraulic brakes while the other two shuffle ahead. Lawlor (a laser-light-show designer, can you tell?) isn't done yet though, he's working on computerized flashing giraffe spots, a light up circulatory system, and a gas grill to get Raffe ready for this summer's Burning Man. If we weren't allergic to sunlight this might be worth a trek down to Nevada all on its own.

[Via MAKE]

[Brandon @ May 20th 2006 8:11PM]

Engadget: As featured in Popular Science...

[skooby @ May 20th 2006 8:28PM]

Now I know what to ask for, for christmas...

[Pete @ May 20th 2006 8:36PM]

hmmmm..

[Sean D @ May 20th 2006 9:24PM]

Allergic to sunlight eh? So hide in your motorhomes all day and come out at night- that's when all the cool stuff is wandering around anyway.

[die burning man @ May 20th 2006 10:33PM]

I'd sooner light MYSELF on fire than go to that �ber hippie/dork fest. Cool gee-raff or not. BM is crap. And yes, I've been. And yes, I went years ago when it was cool. And yes, it's crap. Then and now (but most likely worse now). Where else can you go where a bunch of uptight wanna-bee's can fake creative one long weekend a year? It's like a weekend pass to be a dork. Or dick. Either one. Worst engadget article EVER!

[vectorbug @ May 20th 2006 11:00PM]

I can't wait to go again this year! Hooray! Death to the man, long live the man!

[Raymond @ May 20th 2006 11:33PM]

I for one welcome our Robotic Giraffe overlords.

[Chris @ May 20th 2006 11:45PM]

in soviet russia the giraffe walks you!

[Alcoholic Zombie @ May 21st 2006 12:12AM]

If I had a dollar for everytime I saw a robotic giraffe, I would have just one dollar..

[LittleJoe @ May 21st 2006 1:18AM]

Of all the animals in the world...

[x @ May 21st 2006 2:01AM]

So now we gotta hide in underground caverns when the robotic giraffes attack?! ...no wait! Robotic fishes can swim too...

They should of included a Japanese guy cowering in fear as if he can not move himself out of the way...

[Technobunga @ May 21st 2006 2:11AM]

I think that is very, very creative! It seems more people are building large objects to help them move around. Before too long people will be building exoskeletons for contests.

What would have made it even better is if he put some cloth on it to make it look like realistic!

[embassy @ May 21st 2006 4:15AM]

hmmm..so THATS where joystiq got the inspiration for their T-shirts...interesting...

[Taylor @ May 21st 2006 7:31AM]

I've seen it at a few robotics events... RoboNexus, I think the MAKE Faire... It's neat and all, but it would be sweeter if it didn't have to have wheels... Still, it's pretty cool.
-Taylor

[Germ @ May 21st 2006 9:14AM]

That is also the exact same picture they used in Popular Science.

[Sam @ May 21st 2006 10:44AM]

This is a perfect example that shows the best that
un-creative people can do if they have money.

[Jason @ May 21st 2006 12:37PM]

This guy really, really, REALLY needs to get laid.

[FilipeAlvesFerreira @ May 21st 2006 3:26PM]

We must do things. Even if not perfect.
Regards/Filipe

[Chris @ May 22nd 2006 4:37AM]

It's
A
Giraffe
Don't have an orgasm...

[Marc Mayor @ May 22nd 2006 2:30PM]

It's not the right color. Cool, though. How many AA batteries does it require ?

[Christopher Souvey @ May 22nd 2006 4:08PM]

I saw this at Maker Faire...
It walked across the expo room... It was HUGE and really slow, but pretty cool