About the Museum
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoaxipedia (the museum's online encyclopedia of hoaxes), the Hoax Forum, and the Top 100 April Fools' Day Hoaxes.

The museum was created in 1997 by Alex Boese. He's assisted by a staff of deputy curators and docents. Alex is the author of three books, most recently Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (which has nothing to do with hoaxes). Check out the list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time for a preview.

Web Hoax Museum

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 it 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’t afford a good website to promote it. So I made a cheesy one instead. I couldn’t draw blueprints at all but for some reason I could fabricate parts. Don’t ask me how I got that power. Then the cg I used to make my video uh just forget that last part... the camera I used made shadows go in different directions and the physics of the scene didn’t look quite right. I had the same problems as these guys with people not believing. Well public don’t make the same mistake you did 20 years ago.

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