Giant Robot Snake Fights Climate Change

The Wooster

King Snap
Jul 15, 2008
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Giant Robot Snake Fights Climate Change

A vast team of engineers, programmers and other perpetrators of science are fighting climate change the only way they know how; by building a colossal robotic snake.

The Titanoboa [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanoboa] was, and excuse me while I slip into technical jargon here, a giant-ass snake that lived approximately 58-60 million years ago. It's the largest snake ever discovered, with the biggest example of the, fortunately extinct, species measuring about 50ft in length. Unfortunately, being cold blooded and the length of a bus has it's downsides. The Titanoboa was made extinct by a 6-8 degree shift in the earth's climate.

Built at eatART [http://www.eatart.org/] in East Vancouver, the terrifying robotic reincarnation of this great snake featured in the video on the right was made by a team made up of dozens of students and professionals from a host of different disciplines. In their words:

The Titanoboa project seeks to reincarnate this 50 foot, 1 ton beast as an amphibious, electromechanical serpent machine meant to provoke discussions of our changing climate in a historical context. This giant electromechanical reincarnation will roam the earth striking terror in the hearts of those who dare to look into its eyes and contemplate the future of our planet.
It's certainly true that "Reduce your carbon emissions or I will have my giant robot snake eat you and your children" does sound a lot more compelling than anything any of the other Eco-friendly movements have came up with.

The final version of the Titanoboa will be submersible, rideable, and most importantly, drivable, but the designers stress that it'll take a grit, determination and a skilled hand to master the robo-snake.

"The complex control needed to properly move hundreds of individual parts will necessitate a skilled operator who has taken time to become at one with the serpent."
I am ready.

Source: Titanoboa [http://titanoboa.ca/]


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esperandote

New member
Feb 25, 2009
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First i was like "Nice" and when I saw the persons there I was like "Holy sh..". The scale isn't noticable without reference. Also, where is the camera man? In a robotic helicopter?
 

Space Jawa

New member
Feb 2, 2010
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I see their "Reduce your carbon emissions or I will have my giant robot snake eat you and your children" and raise them a "Time to arm up on the heavy weaponry so I can fight off the inevitable giant robot snake attack".
 

GothmogII

Possessor Of Hats
Apr 6, 2008
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Is last link supposed to be 'Titanobra' because that sounds like a completely different feat of engineering altogether. x)

Otherwise, very cool. Can't wait to see the finished version.
 

Buizel91

Autobot
Aug 25, 2008
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BabyRaptor said:
Thank the Goddess that thing is extinct...*shudders*
He grows bigger if he eats little black squares...DO NOT FEED HIM THEM!

OT:....

I wants one...LIKE NOW...

My cat would shit herself though...or sit on it's head...one of the 2
 

viranimus

Thread killer
Nov 20, 2009
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/sigh

This makes me really miss battlebots. Shame it was so heinously mishandled, or else it might be a expanding into a full fledged sport by now.

Oh well.
 

Dimitriov

The end is nigh.
May 24, 2010
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So the take away is... if we let the Earth heat up enough snakes might evolve to be really big again... and chickens might turn back into DINOSAURS!

How is this supposed to make us want to prevent climate change? Now I can dream of my distant progeny flying around in a helicopter hunting some kind of Tyrannosaurus Rex look-alike with a plasma rifle!
 

Baresark

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Dec 19, 2010
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LoL, it's meant to open discussion about climate change from a historical context... meaning that so called "global warming" and "carbon emission footprints" probably aren't going to be part of the discussion. Not to mention, snakes are cold blooded so it's not an amazing feat that thing was wiped out by such a temperature variation. AND..... no person is potentially responsible for it's destruction.

Climate change teaches us a single important thing, life finds a way. And the loss of a species doesn't ring in the beginning of the end times, as so many people seem to think it does.
 

Infernai

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Apr 14, 2009
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Now here's something to picture....Imagine this Beast if it was the size of most anime Mecha's and included weaponry?

Paints a cool image don't it?
 

Fox242

El Zorro Cauto
Nov 9, 2009
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Slippery slope people, we are on a slippery slope. It won't be long before we have robots capable of rebellion.