Robotic arm rides, 5 cents

We've heard of robot arm-driven rides before, but this guy is seriously taking it to the next level. Watch as some brave soul in an anonymous factory floor tames a giant yellow robot arm and rides it to glory as family and friends look on admiringly, giggling uncontrollably in a giddy orgy of industrial robot exploitation. Video after the break.

[Via hight3ch]

[gerry @ Jan 30th 2007 7:46AM]

Very nice. You bashed on the WiiMote hahahaha.

[Yuvamani @ Jan 29th 2007 9:28PM]

Dude Thats one inf***ingbredible ride.. Wheres the line ?

[therpham @ Jan 29th 2007 9:30PM]

Wow, that's not horrendously dangerous or anything.

I personally enjoyed the part where the guy's head was millimeters from scraping across the floor.

Fun to watch, but not safe in the least.

[David Scott @ Jan 30th 2007 1:07AM]

You are weak. That is a precision robot, have fun with it!

[Billy Bob @ Jan 29th 2007 9:32PM]

But is it controlled by a wiimote?

[Jon @ Jan 29th 2007 9:46PM]

thats looks like a safe form of entertainment.

[Matt @ Jan 29th 2007 9:46PM]

when i saw the pic i was like holy shit someone got attacked by the wiimote robotic arm thing. i would ride it!

[Chris @ Jan 29th 2007 9:55PM]

My God, Only the Brits would do something like that!

[Chris @ Jan 29th 2007 10:38PM]

i'm pretty sure I can see some good ol' boy doing this, preceded by "hey yall watch this"

[Tad Stein @ Jan 31st 2007 2:11AM]

Two words ... Knight's Tournament (LegoLand) ... http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/legoland/21589/

[JohnathonB @ Jan 29th 2007 10:33PM]

IM NEXT!!!! But I dont want my head hitting the floor....

[Zach @ Jan 29th 2007 10:05PM]

I think I saw that in a Modern Marvels or some other History channel thing. Yeah, I'm a dork.

[ScOObyDoo @ Jan 29th 2007 10:09PM]

File this in the "I want one" department.

[Andy @ Jan 29th 2007 10:33PM]

Is this the same place where they put the sword on it and used a wiimote to control the robot?

[Edward @ Jan 29th 2007 10:46PM]

i'm already scared shitless

[John H. @ Jan 29th 2007 10:18PM]

Why the hell isn't he wearing a helmet?

[js @ Jan 29th 2007 10:19PM]

I, for one, welcome our fun-filled thrill seeking gargantuan robotic arm overlords.

[Evan.A @ Jan 29th 2007 10:22PM]

Cool I want one!

[Ben @ Jan 29th 2007 10:19PM]

Actually, they have rides like this commercially available. I rode one at Legoland California (San Diego), called "Knight's Tournament." Check pics/review/movie here: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/legoland/21589/

[Tad Stein @ Jan 31st 2007 2:12AM]

awww I didn't see this ... I thought I was the only other person reading that had ever been to LegoLand .. I was in shock :-)!

[GeneMack @ Jan 29th 2007 10:37PM]

This guy is an idiot. I actually make my living with industrial robotics. This COULD be safe, had they actually did some calculations and programmed in soft-limits to make sure that even if there was a programming mistake, the robot could not move to a position that was unsafe for this person.

Watching him scrape his head, they obviously didn't take this little precaution. I give them credit for marking off the work envelope and at least keeping the spectators out of that area, but you can also see that that nice, hard, steel wall is within the work envelope. Again, a tiny programming error could teach a point that is past that wall. When the robot is told to go to that point, it can't see that wall, but will try as hard as it can to get there.

You can guess what would happen to the "passenger" if that happened.

I'm all for having fun and this could have been fun. But I've also seen what happens when someone gets in front of one of these robots.

[NovaLand @ Jan 30th 2007 12:27PM]

GeneMack: Loose up, man.. haven't u ever heard about the laws of robots.

"1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm."

So it's safe! =) lol

[rb @ Jan 29th 2007 10:41PM]

Look ma, no head!
Yikes!!

[John Doe @ Jan 29th 2007 10:46PM]

Hmmm. The future of the mechanical bull for rednecks.

[OctaneZ @ Jan 29th 2007 10:55PM]

Future Darwin Award Winners!

[one1082 @ Jan 29th 2007 10:56PM]

o man i'd hurl so hard

[cloud811 @ Jan 29th 2007 11:16PM]

omg that looks soo ghetto...and dangerous...looks like its going to tip and kill him. BUT FUN! must get in line...

[s i d @ Jan 29th 2007 11:29PM]

first all the laughs n then the paranoia .... this ride would be good prelude or sequel to that chemical brothers video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_IkUysQASQ

[MattJ @ Jan 29th 2007 11:32PM]

Honestly I'm sure they tried the program before hand and it would be damn near impossible for it to rip out of the concrete so im sure its safe. That part where his heads near the ground is an enormous distance for a robot that is precise to a hundreth of an inch. If there is a programming glitch that occurs it would only be possible if some catostrophic event occured to the computer and even then it would merely stop at its current possition not start bashing people into the ground.

[GeneMack @ Jan 30th 2007 9:50AM]

I'm sure they tried the program too. Actually, they had to while they were doing the teach points. Plus, I'm sure they also went through a point move sequence after teaching to see the actual movements in real time.

But it is almost painfully obvious they didn't calculate the height of this guy while he is sitting in the seat, which is why he almost hit is head. You can hear the reaction of the crowd and himself and can tell that was unexpected.

Yes, it is a precesion robot, meant to maneuver fixed end of arm tooling, that would be on the end of the arm when they were teaching points. But he wasn't on the end of the arm when they taught the points, so they weren't thinking about the extra distance needed when he flipped around and upside down.

Again, it COULD have been safe, but these idiots missed a few steps and that could have cost this guy his life.

[Michael @ Jan 29th 2007 11:51PM]

I hope that guy was wearing his wrist strap!

[Biff @ Jan 29th 2007 11:49PM]

Faces of Death Franchise

Looks like you have new prospects :(

[Blacknimbus @ Jan 30th 2007 12:06AM]

Well, it doesn't look OSHA inspected or anything...

[Ellianth @ Jan 30th 2007 12:07AM]

It's all fun and games until a certain robotic slave gets angry and starts slamming the rider into the ground repeatedly. That thing doesn't look very safe.

[Brian @ Jan 30th 2007 12:13AM]

1) Wow... that's freaing cool!
2) Helmet? Puh-leeze... this guy needs a full suit of kevlar!

[Anon @ Jan 30th 2007 12:26AM]

I second the comment about the wiimote comments. Enough already. If you think you have something funny to say about the wiimote that no one has said, you're wrong. All funny wiimote things have been said. Please stop yourself and spare us.

[kowalski @ Jan 30th 2007 1:03AM]

where on earth was his helmet? unbelievably stupid

[ian mcgrady @ Jan 30th 2007 2:54AM]

First the robots lull us into a false sense of security. On the chosen day, they strike.

[ian mcgrady @ Jan 30th 2007 3:07AM]

... and also, tell me that alcohol was not involved. You cannot tell me that alcohol was not involved. The classic formula for Robotic Danger index number

RD=E/LC+BAC(d.t.)(o.t.)

Robotic Danger =Employees/Lawn Chairs + Blood Alcohol Content (hours of downtime)(overtime rate of pay)

In this case the Robotic Danger index number is:

[Koinsky @ Jan 30th 2007 4:33AM]

The internet is a dangereous place.
Now we only have to wait for some serious accident to happen.

[fraggle_rocker @ Jan 30th 2007 3:33AM]

there was only cm's to spare, if he had of worn a helmet his head would have hit the ground, DUH!

[Yuri @ Jan 30th 2007 3:51AM]

In Soviet Russia robotic arm rides you!

[Jeff Foster @ Jan 30th 2007 11:49AM]

hahahahaha

[gerry achola @ Jan 30th 2007 7:45AM]

I like how a lot of people were quick to sarcastically point out how dangerous it seemed with the guy's head inches from the floor. Consider that it's a robot controlling him. Not a man with a gigantic arm.

[Knucklehead @ Jan 30th 2007 9:01AM]

re: robot precision. My guess is that during the work week this robot does not carry some idiot strapped into seat with a 5pt harness. What's to keep the harness from being a bit too lose, and the guy slipping just a bit when he's dangled upside down? Not alot, but just the 2cm needed to have his head scrape across the floor. And later in the video, he has to pick his feet up to keep them from hitting the ground. I understand the robot may have a tolerance on the order of milimeters, but the knucklehead riding it (and the seat and harness he's set up) certainly don't.

[bsm0f0 @ Jan 30th 2007 9:26AM]

I was waiting for the robot to launch it's "whirlwind" attack ...

Pretty cool. Sure it's not safe ... but neither is driving to work. I think I'd rather be flung around like a rag doll by a robotic arm than splattered by a Ford Explorer ... at least it'd be fun for a few seconds.

[Thomas Crymes @ Jan 30th 2007 12:17PM]

Stupid! And I'm not talking about the guy in the video. I'm talking about some of the posters crying unsafe. It actually looks perfectly safe for the guy riding it. In reality there is no way to truly know whether it is safe or not by watching a video. If the computer is programmed to not hit the guy's head on the ground and the system has redundant measures to prevent failure then it doesn't matter how close the guy's head comes to the ground as long as it doesn't hit.

If his head doesn't hit the ground 1 mm is no different than 1 km. The perceived danger is in your mind. Obviously this is a test for some amusement ride.

[The Truth Beacon @ Jan 31st 2007 6:17PM]

For those of you who are so very afraid of a little pain that you think someone else living vicariously is a moron, I pity your poor existence. Not all of us require the level of coddling and whatnot that you do - we chose to enjoy life without the boundaries and constrictions of protection. You are the same morons who think the speed limit is too fast, and create traffic jams because you think that it is unsafe to go 70 on the freeway, let alone the speed that traffic typically goes.

Stay in your flat in San Francisco, but don't come crying to us when one or two pictures fall down in an Earthquake, because I for one will gleefully point out what a moron you are for living is such a notoriously unsafe (when it comes to Earthquakes) place.

Life is meant to be lived and experienced, not feared.

[Dick John @ Jan 30th 2007 10:41AM]

You can't fix stupid.

[Ray Fard @ Jan 30th 2007 11:45AM]

Death wish??