Cajun Crawler swaps Segway wheels for Theo Jansen's creepy leg mechanism
If the Segway's current movement mechanism and cast of characters astride them wasn't keeping you up at night, the Cajun Crawler should seal the deal. Based on the work of kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen, the Cajun Crawler holds up a Segway-style platform with a scary collection of steampunk-like mechanical legs, which can scurry across a floor with surprising agility. The project was built by a team of folks at the University of Louisiana, who do not know the meaning of fear. Video is after the break.
[Via Nowhere Else]
[Via Nowhere Else]























Some say _I_ bite off my partners' heads after mating, but that doesn't mean they can prove anything.
I want the fat kid to try it!
Yeah... it'd definitely go faster with him on it *rolls eyes...*
It'd probably break.
University of Louisiana? Didn't Bobby Boucher play for them?
Well, that was the name of the school he played for, yes, but it was a fictional school. The name of the real school is University of Louisiana at Lafayette, which it says at the end of the video.
It needs to make that spider noise from Centipede every time it moves.
Also, note that none of the fat people in the video rode this contraption. If they tried, the Cajun Crawler would probably try to run away from them!
And i was going to be attending there last fall. Decided to go to Tech instead. O well.
@kjb434
Im Russian so blow me!
And learn to take a joke, you'll live longer and have more friends.
There is no University Of Louisiana. I am guessing they mean either University of Louisiana at Lafayette or University of Louisiana at Monroe.
Yeah. I hate that they do that. It's ULL.
Had you watched the video, you would see that it says "University of Louisiana at Lafayette" at 5:26 into it.
By that reasoning, there is no Louisiana State University, either. There is only Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College at Baton Rouge. Calling it 'LSU' would be a slight to the folks at the Eunice campus.
And yes, this is at ULL, as indicated by the 'Cajun Crawler' moniker. If it were ULM, they would have to call it the 'Redneck Rocket' or the 'West Mississippi Ambler.'
No, if it was UL-M, they'd have to call it the Yankee Walker.
Go Ragin' Cajuns! (from a lowly McNeese State grad)
its UL Lafayette, i guess i should take a stroll down to our engineering dept to check this out.
and for those comparing it to a segway, i think its more of a proof of concept for what is possible with the legs as opposed to competition for the segway, but even if it is its a hell of a lot more stable than a segway that's for sure.
Totally looks like a mini mars/lunar rover, NASA should give them a call.
Ridin' Dirty! LMAO i love geek humor!
Should have used Weird Al's Ridin' Nerdy instead. Would have fit much better.
Can a chimapnzee tide on it?
OMAP n Zii, maybe
did eleanor roosevelt really say nasty?
the handlebars aren't tall enough. one dude falls off
Would something like this be good for a lunar rover? Is the efficiency better then wheels? Weighs less? Better over obstacles? Obviously on Mars or the moon speed isn't exactly something you care about. Or is there alot more failure points in the legs then with wheels?
Reminds me of Humma Kavula from the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/hitchhikers-history-22.jpg
it looks kinda like two six-legged horses underneath.
The table in the bottom left corner looks a little bit like a giant PLAY button.
Great work by those guys.
Of course, it is defeated by ball of string.
hahah
Nice. I wonder what kind of range it has, the battery can't last long.
But I would definitely choose this over a Segway.
Sweet, I've raced against that car before. (The baja car in the back)
Good plug for Baja SAE, kinda.
Weird... I look at it, see two motors on the sides underneath to independently control the legs (notice that the walking is variable-speed)..... so where are the batteries? I couldn't find them, and it must take a significant amount of juice to run this.
The batteries are the blue packs. They used Cordless drills as power source and driving source.
I can't tell if it's creepy or if it's cute :|
There's only one thing this video needs... the Benny Hill theme song: http://james.nerdiphythesoul.com/bennyhillifier/speedup.php?id=JCPlczI3k-c
love it! xD
+1 internet
ROFL
The first minute of the video sucked ass...
the device itself seems more interesting than a segway, but lacks segway's dynamic balance capabilities (the fact that this thing has a problem with tipping over forward during a rapid stop).
It would be really neat if they could scale the legs up to something that could climb stairs. It'd be kind of like that spider chair from the movie version of "Wild Wild West".
Sorry, White and Nerdy...there goes my nerd cred.
The feet are not rollers they are fixed, and as for using handlebars from a scooter, it's called a time constraint. All of the time in one semester was used to develop, fabricate, and assemble the important part, the legs! Minor details such as the handlebars and switches can be modified later. All in all our design goals were met then exceeded. Thanks for all of the great comments, I'm happy that it has sparked such an interest and is providing some entertainment.
do you mean Louisiana State University? I'm pretty sure a "University of Louisiana" doesn't exist.
University of Louisiana at Lafayette, ULL Ragin Cajuns. Look it up!
it's cool but i would take a segway over it anytime the balance is terrible the guy keeps on falling off
That's actually a really cool mode of locomotion. Where were you on that one Mother Nature??
Evolution Fail!
This is Awesome! I graduated in EE from ULL and it's great to see them in the news. Geaux Cajuns!
It's also Quebec's provincial flower.
yea... the legs still kinda freak me out. and i like the look of the segway better. is this faster than a segway?
Nice thing about segway is the way it uses gyros to auto balance, which this thing apparently doesn't have. Put in gyros and increase the speed and it would be pretty wicked.
Everyone keeps saying what a better piece of machinery the segway is, but you have to keep in mind the segway had several years to develop into what it is today. As far as I can tell development for the segway started in 1999 and the commercial segway didn't come out until 2002.
Keep it up UL.