We won't even front -- we've got a thing for visiting
National Parks, and in a way, we're dangerously envious of these fellows who crafted this here BeetleCam. In short, the device is a wildlife photography robot: a four-wheeled, remote control buggy that holds a
DSLR, a couple of flashes and enough torque and battery life to power through African wilds for hours on end. After months of testing, building, rebuilding and rebuilding again, the BeetleCam was packaged up and carried over to Tanzania's Ruaha and Katavi National Parks. During the fortnight-long excursion, the buggy managed to survive being mauled by a lion (sadly the same can't be said for the Canon
EOS 400D) and get staggeringly close to elephants, African Buffaloes and other untamed fauna. Frankly, this is one of the more amazing homegrown gadgets we've seen in quite some time, and we couldn't encourage you more to hit up that source link for the full spill.
posted April 20th 2010 1:32PM
Hooray for homebrewers!
@hero785 For some reason, probably the word bre in homebrew, this comment made me get a cuppa tea.
@JimJam707
I was having a cup of coffee and taking a break from studying when I read this piece and that made me think homebrewing!
@hero785
Umm... So which one is Ringo?
Looks like something the Military owns.
If that were the case, it'd cost about $12,000,000 and still be just as fragile.
So basically it is a minitank with camera? Cool.
We need this to track down el chupacabra.
Tanzania-my home on Engadget! Never thought I'd see us on a techblog. Nonetheless, that device is mighty cool. Maybe they should sell this to BBC so that when watching Planet Earth 2 or whatever we don't have to hear over and over again "our camera crew waited 1,352,235,235 days just to catch this never before seen shot of ...". Their job would suddenly be a lot more pleasant..
@ndukyh
Me too! Kinda makes you feel proud! Did you guys try Ugali na Samaki? lol
@hero785 Haha, they look more like Tusker Lager guys!
@ndukyh
I think they must have tried Safari Lager. Makes me wonder if those binoculars are real or fake (filled with beer)
@ndukyh I need some cool friends who love gadgets in far away places in the world. Can I come visit you? You can visit me when you come to the USA. I have WiFi! Seriously, I want to make friends with Engadget-fans so Ican travel the world by sleeping on the couches of friends and blogging about my travels
yusuf.alkindi (at) gmail (dot) com
@Dr Yusuf AlKindi Would love to host you on my couch! Unfortunately for now my couch is in Boston, MA as I don't live in TZ currently (I wish!)
They should use the wireless file transmitter attachment, a Canon 5DM2, and put a metal housing around it (except for the antenna part). Then they could use liveview on a laptop to frame the shot and get the right focus.
@rcappo
But, it is a pretty cool project. Good job!
Where we these guys stationed while operating the robot? I'd want to be pretty far from some of those beasties.
Nice work, but remember if the most expensive part of your creation is eaten, smushed, pissed on, or otherwise BUSTED, you still have a major flaw in your design.
http://www.lynxmotion.com/Category.aspx?CategoryID=111
$219- $300
DSLR Canon's EOS 400D
$500 and up (body only)
Nice DIY Job for sure, and resulted in some great snaps, but its a bit rich of them to say
"Traditionally, this has been achieved using camera traps – stationary cameras triggered when an animal breaks an invisible infra-red beam."
"We therefore decided to invent something a little more proactive!"
To say you "invented" somthing which has been done, and done by the BBC and Sir David Attenborough with "The dung cam" just seems a little off to me.
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iso high res pics.
"Nature photography" - if by "nature photography" you mean upskirts in the outback.
Nice tires, I say that because I had the same tires on an Off Road Skateboard I once had. I wonder if they got them from Maui Greenway as well? That's who makes them. Looks cool, wish I had one....