It's a hoax. I'm a mechanical engineer who did a Master's in robotics. Balance is still beyond us. Most walking robots have been pre-programmed and if you nudge them they would fall. The robotics research community never heard of it (and my group has read many many papers, no mention of this), meaning its not real, and there's nothing to support it. The robotic arm dexteritiy test isn't much of a test. You can purchase an arm like that from Kuka or many other companies for $50,000, and program it. Lastly, and this is the giveaway, try to go to the very top page http://www.r50rd.co.uk and i,t redirects to the very page in question... why would it do that? You can figure it out. Balance seems natural to us but we're just at the tip of the iceberg!

Alright, I'll buy the lighting argument. However, weather or not this thing exists, I do find it hard to believe there hasn't been any leaks as to the where-abouts, and no media coverage of the thing opperating.

Also, these stories about "so-and-so's life was saved by a giant robot" are crap. If this guy who's built this thing was any sort of respectible engineer, he wouldn't have just cut it lose on the roads. There would have been legal matters to deal with, and most likely he would have held an ceremony of some sort to commemorate the activation of the first roadside assistance robot.

And, to further stab at you dopes who believe this crap, I've watched that video, and read the stuff on how it works using flywheels to store kinetic energy and whatnot. Even if he could walk, and think for it's self in any sort of manner, there's no way it would be able to completely lift a vehicle from the ground. It just lacks the structural integrity to do something like that.

So, what's my conclusion? All you who believe this is real are dopes, and everyone else, koodos for being smart enough to look around and get the real facts.

BTW, looks like Citroen made their own robot, and it even transforms!

http://www.saiphalliance.ahost4free.com/index/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=getit&lid=7

Actually, The link for that robot is here


http://shadow-warriors-clan.com/c4.wmv

It's even more realistic looking than the Mini-Cooper Transforming.....this one is REAL I SWEAR!!!!LOL....Cuz, see, one time, my cousins Grandmother was having tea, and she told me that she had a Citreon, and she pressed a flashy button, and saved a brigde from falling and crushing a family of pink three legged kittens!

Josh believes her, she won't stop talking about it.....I wish the old hag would shut it!

So two weeks ago, she was talking about it again...and i just couldn't handle it....so I beat the old lady with her own cane...where was the robot then???

Ok ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, aaaaand the two drunks in the back row. Heres my take on the situation from my observations alone, First of all I believe and know that we do have the technology to create such things as this robot here, and all quite easily if you know what parts you need and where to get them, however most people dont take the time to realize that a good portion of the parts to make a simple robot lie all around their house, so why not someone who has a whole slew of vehicle and motor parts lying around the warehouse and an inordinately large amount of free time on their hands? Ok now that I've made note of the positive things let me give away this guys secret by telling you the damning and conclusive evidence that what he has here is a hoax. Look at the segment of where the robot catches the car, and observe the lighting, no it has nothing to do with shadows etc. though I will admit that those were artfully done if nothing else, but pay attention to the reflection on the car window itself. See anything missing? And even if the lighting were placed somewhere else, the very size of the robot itself would still cast a reflection in the windows, even if it was just its head, especially if you know a thing or two about relative math applications comparing differing sizes of matter and reflective properties of glass. So if this isn't a hoax, wheres the robots reflection on the glass? For it not to have a reflection at all in the side windows, the lighting itself would inevitably HAVE to be on the opposite side of the vehicle as the robot facing DIRECTLY towards the robot itself, so bravo to the gentleman who set this whole thing up, for a moment you almost had me fooled.....almost.

Glaredog

"aaaaand the two drunks in the back row" - Glaredog

Umm, there's only one of me, I'm not THAT fat.

I know this is real. Amerika has an evil robot that has TAKEN CONTROL OF THE COUNTRY! It looks like a 40-something frat-boy but it has become OUR PRESIDENT! Who is pushing the buttons? The DEMOCRATS! They made a robot that looks and sounds dumb so that you would RUN AWAY FROM IT! And into the liberal-loving arms of the DEMOCRATIC AGENDA!

They want your kids to become HOMO-SE*UALS and make babies with DIVERSE PEOPLES!

Bravo! This has to be the most entertaining run of threads I've read in a long time. I'd have to say hoax as well, having only seen the arm video. It's the same type of arm they've been using to build Minis since Jesus killed all those Martians. Jesus drove a Mini. And his Mini transformed into that R50 robot and saved Mary Magdalene. It threw rocks at the Jews. I had tea with Jesus and the robot just yesterday. Delicious. The robot's tea corrupted his systems and he had to ask Optimus Prime for help. Jesus saves.

I drive a Mini. I want my Mini to miraculously turn into a giant robot and save me from killing myself if I lose control and veer off of a road in Oxford. But if it transforms with me inside, won't that crush me? And, according to the robot's programming, wouldn't that go against his primary protocol? By causing the death of the one he was programmed to protect, would he then be forced to self-destruct? Is it a he? Holy crap. I need to hit this pipe again.

I found this site to be very curious when I first ran across it. But it was obvious when I saw the 'car stopping' video that this was another viral marketing campaign, just like the Fallon agency's Lee jeans campaign a few years back (remember rubberburner.com and supergreg.com?).

The movements of this robot are too fluid for todays technology. Look at Sony's Qrio and judge for yourself. This Mini is straight out of a Hollywood feature film. The flamefest you're having regarding the validity of this website is exactly what viral marketing is made for.

Jason, are YOU a DEMOC-RAT? You claim this is a marketing joke but a real AMERI-CAN! would think for themselves and see past the SMOKE & MIRRORS!

I hope you haven't used your real name 'cause the COMPUTERS and the ROBOTS are one and the same. They will find you and destroy YOU! I disconnect my Chevy's battery every night just to be sure it doesn't try anything FUNNY while I sleep!

Hootie (not MY real name)

Look at the dive (or lack thereof) on the vehicle as it stops.. there is almost none...completely inconsistent with ANY road worthy vehicle... not only that but the shading is consistent with early 90s computer graphics... The shadow is consistent with a single point light source...probably from the artificial sun also located in the warehouse but off camera... and for such a violent stop that driver gets out of the vehicle just a little too fast.

For those of you that think this is real, your all idiots. Thats all I wanted to say.

Man this guy stole my idea. In 1985 I built a traler house that transformed into a robot. Since I had to invest all my money into the robo trailer I couldn

boys this is a fake...how the hell do you make a robot outta a mini cooper...a gay robot from a gay car

are u pppl u who manipultad by this gay??
false shadowing proves it animated. look on the november edition where he does the light test you'll see when he walks across the room his shadow does'nt seem to interact with the robot
simply: u should see part of his shadow on the robo's left leg when he made is way to the pwr button and good point some of u made if this was real would'nt there be hype about it and why pick a popular car to build it with?

haha im only 13 and im able to see this is hoax unlike some stubborn +30 year olds

machines cant learn. they can only do what they are programed to do. there is no sence in being scared or offended by scrap metal. if you cant see that this is a beautiful event, than you are seriously mistaken. the only thing we should be scared of is ourselves, the world would be better off with these puppets roaming the country side, programed to take care of the environment and its resources.

So, just a few points:

Would you buy a Mini Cooper on the basis of this?

How much effort and money do you suppose went into it? One guy said you could "pick up" a robotic arm for $50,000. That's just the arm.

I don't for a minute believe the viral marketing story, just on a cost-benefit argument.

And the people going on about the shadows! I've seen expensive movies with worse CGI than this. This is EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD if it is a fake.

Notice the time taken on LIDAR and other stuff that most of us aren't interested in and has nothing to do with selling cars.

So, it's either an eccentric genius hoaxer, or an eccentric genius robotics guy called mayhew.

Its a hoax, here is definte proof http://www.zoicstudios.com/leone/site/creations/com/mini/showcase.html
kind of a bummer, i wanted it to be real

Hey guys! this website is sooo cool! But the first thing I thought when I saw it, was that the technology the robot uses to balance is just way too advanced.
No one in academic research, to my knowledge, has been successful with bi-pedal motion for human plus sized robots - it is very difficult to get their balance correct.
And for me to believe that not only one man, working alone, was able to solve this problem, but also, to create a robot that can stop the momentum of a car one handed while KEEPING its balance? I don't know. But its great science fiction!

Hoax, not a hoax... The creator of the video is the only one with the power to prove if it is real or not.

The people out there who claim it is real.

YOU ARE RETARDED MORONS, INCAPABLE OF DISTINGUISHING FACT FROM FICTION.

If anyone was capable of making humanoid robots that could do that, they would be making it public. It would be splashed across websites and the newspapers.

You obviously have no idea of how complicated robots are. To make one that can drive around and follow things itself is extremely difficult. This is obviously fake.

And to the people who are worried that robots will get out of control and hurt someone, I strongly encourge you to shoot yourselves, as you have just identified yourself as the dumbest individuals on the planet.

And to the even dumber people who claim that it is real and that it was built to save people...

I've changed my mind.

YOU are now the dumbest people on the planet.

Go and do something painful to yourself.

And the person who said something aout God:

GOD DOES NOT CARE ABOUT OLD PEOPLE IN CARS! HE PROBABLY DOESN'T EVEN EXIST!

Thank you.

I still can't beleive you are so stupid.

I just watched some of these videos and I am 100% convinced that this is a hoax! it looks like it was computer Genarated! just watch the videos and u will see that the Mecha looks like it was pasted in to the picture.... I even had a second opinon and at first thay did suspect it to be CGI but when thay looked at it again they knew it was pure CGI and if u cant see that then u need your eyes examined!

This is definetly a composite piece. As for CGI well thats debatable with the quality of the footage. The same results could of been done with extremely clever frame by frame animation using a closed shop to get this done and having the mecha partialy backlit for frame reference. This would be possable even if the mecha could not successfully move great distance and using a large green screen which can give the impression of CGI. As for touting it over the press, they wouldnt do that till they have reverse engineered and patented what components they could then patent the machine as a whole unit. This proccess can take quiet a few years as they have to search through patents to check for validity of patent claims and such.

ok so if you see the movies you can see that this is cgi you cant doubt that. i dont know about the people saying they got saved from a car accident by a robot maybe they work for the company or something. and if you think that this is real you should open your mind further, as much as i would love to have it be real its not going to happen. but it is plausible to have a biped robot of that caliber built (not out of a mini cooper). you just need to make some extra modifications in the robot i believe it will run just fine but not as smooth as the one who stopped that car in one of the videos it moves way to smoothly for a robot especially a robot of that size. and a man with that kind of knolegde would worry more about what it does instead of puting a couple of tires on its shoulder (which do nothing but make the robot heavier for its legs) and a transformer esc look. really if you look and the video closely and listen when the robots turn on the lights it doesnt make a sound of its metal foot hitting the ground you would think that it would. i do give kudos to the guys that did the cgi it was very good.

you people should find your answers here....

www.miniusa.com/crm/robots/robot_configurator.jsp?model=coopers - 2k -

check it out.

I personally like the "Chile Red" model, really gives it a good stance don't ya think (thick-headed morons, maybe the terrorists had a point).

I can't believe people are still commenting on this. I read the booklet in Motor Trend years ago and got completely sucked in. I loved the whole thing and really wish more advertizing campaigns were as clever and entertaining as this one. Once and for all, yes, this is not real (although I still REALLY want to believe it is). However, the brilliance of this advertisement makes up for the fact that it is all pretend.

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