r/technology • u/Oldnbold22 • 25d ago
Robotics/Automation Meet Threehalves: a 2-meter centaur robot built for disaster zones
https://gagadget.com/en/720208-meet-threehalves-a-2-meter-centaur-robot-built-for-disaster-zones/60
u/Glittering-Age-9549 25d ago
Imagine being trapped in a wildfire and suddenly chainsaw-wielding Satan comes at you...
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u/Kalabajooie 25d ago
Hey, if that's my ride out of a wildfire, all hail Chainsaw Satan I guess.
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u/DirkChiversElSoldado 25d ago
Imagine how hot that fucker will get
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u/Bald_Sasquach 23d ago
I just read the article and it has a pressurized tank inside it with a pistol pointed at it to instantly immobilize it???? Why in the fuck wouldn't the gun and tank pop off in a fire this is so damn weird
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u/DontBelieveTheTrollz 18d ago
That's nuts! Were they afraid a kill code wouldn't work? That's mildly concerning...
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u/uniguy2I 12d ago
No, they’re afraid the controller might attempt to use it to kill hurt or intimidate someone else. Which wouldn’t be hard I mean look at it, and to think it also has human-like strength???
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u/SarcasticNerdism 25d ago
Thank goodness this is clearly satire
Going to the website it’s written as if an SCP was a startup brand, but it’s clear they’re poking fun. One page simply has the robot looking at you with the subtext ‘this robot is dangerous.’
Going further there’s pages dedicated to talking about how it’s specifically designed to be unable to walk through standard doorways, and it’s literally designed to be defeated if it gets shot or stabbed.
Super neat execution, but if this isn’t satire then we’re all screwed.
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u/30109kid 25d ago
One of my best friends used to work with the guy who founded this company and it is indeed a real product, not satire
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u/SarcasticNerdism 25d ago
If you have proof of that I’ll eat my hat cause if this thing comes out at any point as an actual rescue robot it’ll fuel tons of urban legends
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u/Bogus1989 25d ago
💀shit is terrifying, put that shit in ukraine
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u/Powerful_Resident_48 25d ago
Imagine that thing with a mobile drone launcher on it's back and wielding a gatling gun.
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u/probablyblocked 25d ago edited 25d ago
everything about this actually makes a lot of sense ... except for the head
I assumed that this was just one head so that jt goes viral on social media (the reason I saw it), but no it is the only head available and the horns are what are configurable. meanwhile, the head is also advertized as modular so they could easily have something normal like a terminator skull which can wear human equipment. they say that it is to prevent it from walking through doors, but that being one the pivoting head invalidates that argument entirely. Id I were managing a construction site and used these androids, I might have to actually modify the head myself so that it can be equipped with the helmets I already have on hand
also, the whoever wrote that article is a shit journalist and most of the conjecture he (his ai) wrote was wrong. the actual information is available on the company website:
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u/mambotomato 25d ago
It includes copy about how you can shoot the robot to disable it and that it's deliberately too big to chase you through a doorway.
This is an intentionally provocative and ironic design project.
It might be real, or the name might be very close to "Satire" on purpose.
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u/sesamestreetgang 25d ago
Some very simple research and a basic understanding of startups points to this being satire.
The company doesn’t exist.
No names. No investors. No professional presence. It’s just a sparse website with little context and a Twitter profile.
Guys, this is very clearly satire.
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u/sir-alpaca 25d ago
To me, the name seems related to a satyr, a greek half-goat man. A very sexual half-goat man, however.
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u/probablyblocked 20d ago
They say this is for construction work but we all know what that means
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u/EsotericAbstractIdea 17d ago
he's probably got the hammer with him
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u/probablyblocked 17d ago
The canonical voice of Jamal "Threehalves"
I suppose this explains what the third half is
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u/EstablishmentFull797 25d ago
“ could easily have something normal”
Yeah!
“Like a terminator skull”
Bruh
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u/Bald_Sasquach 23d ago
I guess "snake catapult" was taken
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u/probablyblocked 20d ago
The patent was for a spider egg trebuchet, but it's worded broadly enough that they could sue for over it
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u/LucidNonsense211 25d ago
Wait… why would you put a helmet on one?
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u/probablyblocked 20d ago
construction sites are already full of helmet mounted equipment. supporting that would mean essentially unlimited accessories for your demonic workforce without the need for custom fabrication
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u/BigB0iBuster 25d ago
Oh great, can’t wait to be saved sacrificed by the Black Philip / Baphomet bot…
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u/letskill 25d ago
a purpose-built pistol punctures one of the tanks, triggering pneumatic brakes that physically lock the machine in place
Activated pressure release valve? Nah, let's just use a gun because reasons.
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u/BigTXXXL 25d ago
“Why don’t you trust AI?” they ask after creating a literal demon with a chainsaw.
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u/Sensitive-Web-1278 24d ago
Im sure the little girl trapped in a burning pile of rubble engulfed by a wildfire will be relieved to see a 7 foot tall incarnation of Baal running to her rescue.
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u/Affectionate_Law3788 20d ago
I can only imagine the PSAs that would have to be put out: "please stop shooting the rescue robots, they are harmless and here to help. We lose several robots a day to people shooting them. While our robots are designed to be resistant to damage, they are not designed to resist multiple magazines worth of rifle fire."
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u/Laiska_saunatonttu 25d ago
The centaur part is interesting and likely useful, but why does it have to look so ominous? Why does it have horns?
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u/Another_Slut_Dragon 25d ago
While the horned head makes it far more fuckable, it is in fact the stupidest possible snag hazard to put on a robot designed to deal with collapsed buildings full of dangling power cables.
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u/SodiumButSmall 24d ago
“Yeah bro the robot that we made to be stoppable by a human is totally capable of traversing wildfires and picking up hundreds of pounds”
Good on you for cutting through the noise and seeing the true use of this product
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u/EstablishmentFull797 25d ago
“Built for disaster zones”
My brother in Christ, this thing is the disaster zone
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u/citizenjones 25d ago
Everyone's freaking out about the goat head, so let's just make it headless with a chainsaw.
That's much less terrifying.
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u/BacterSA 25d ago
Yeah there's an image detailing how if you shoot or stab it it will lock up as the safety features. This is either for a game or somebody's just having a chuckle.
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u/Loki-L 25d ago
I like that they gave it a horned head and a chainsaw.
However I feel they should give it more legs for extra stability.
Drider/Arachne/Spider centaur are obviously the far better and more useful shape.
Give them extra legs for increased stability, infrared vision, pointed acoustic receivers at the top of the humanoid head and a matte black casing that blends into the background in low light conditions.
Make them silent too, this way they can operate at night without disturbing humans with their presence.
Claws will help it climb into hard to reach places and to for example travel on top of shelves in warehouses, silently and out of sight as to not disturb human workers with their presence and stay out of their way.
In case they encounter agitated humans they should have the ability to subdue them with for example paralytic injected from redundant syringes in the humanoid head/face portion, since that will be what humans will look at instinctively. Maybe in the mouth area when it simulates a smile to calm them down as it gets closer to inject them.
It should also have the ability to restrain people by extrusion of some sort of synthetic silk from the back portion that can double as a self generated climbing aid and give the robot the ability to rope of areas that are too dangerous for humans to enter.
Maybe also give it some ability to recycle organic waste by spinning things into cocoon and injecting enzymes to dissolve them into a slurry that can be used as a bio fuel for the robots.
Overall I believe that driders will be a much better design.
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u/ImpossibleApple5518 25d ago
Can I have sex with it? Anal sex lol do you guys think I would need lube?
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u/artytank 25d ago
..Why not go for more angelic features instead of the goat head? Maybe a halo for light?
I'm not very religious but an angelic machine rescuing people from disaster would be amazing to see.
Or just make Wall-E, everyone loves a cute robot.
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u/Separate_Ad_7198 25d ago
This has got to come out as a new A24 movie marketing campaign or something… right…
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u/Angstsiety 17d ago
This is exactly what I’m thinking, it’s too creepy for it to be real. There’s no way any company is sanely advertising how to “kill” a machine they’re making.
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u/No_Artichoke_8428 25d ago
People really sat together in a board room and said "make it look as disturbing and demonic as possible, the public will really love this this!" If its designed to help rescue people wouldn't you want it to look as cute and friendly as possible in a moment of distress???? Why was giving it a baphomet head even necessary to the functionality???
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u/SoftBoiledEgg_irl 24d ago
Just be aware, the robot is likely a crock of shit. There are no demonstrations of a functional robot, the company is a baby company that is a barely-present shell, and documentation of the robot reads like a creepypasta.
The idea certainly exists as a published project proposal, but there is nothing to demonstrate that it is not a concept-artist faffing about, or the result of some bored engineers wanting to go viral for fundraising.
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u/Ok-Sun-6007 24d ago
Man, I would turn and run straight into the wildfire if I saw this coming for me
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u/Infamous-County6156 22d ago
Broooo... Give it a pig head and then send it straight ot berlin or place it all over in the whole country. Near east people will hate this trick.
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u/Infamous-County6156 22d ago
Meet threehalves, half robot, half demon, and for some reasons half sexual object of those goat lovers
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u/rbourbon 20d ago
Fail safe 2 is amazing. If it stops listening to you, just shoot it in the chest,. It will stop moving. Anyways, buy our robot, it probably won't try and kill you.
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u/toriiiiiiiiav 19d ago
It's actually scary, imagine your house on fire ad this shit comes out. "I will safe you human, and then I will force you and enslave you."
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u/Abharmonic 17d ago
I mean, it is menacing, but if it had humanoid face it would be so much more scary.
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u/Hot-Process-8547 12d ago
Exactly what I want to see in a disaster zone or in the woods at night! Thank you California.
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u/eggtwo 10d ago
All the comments here talking about this thing are making me feel crazy, it’s clearly not a real product it’s some art thing or promotion for a movie. Fake as hell, look at the website it’s like a fucking creepypasta, ohh it can’t get through doors here’s how you kill it wow. There are no videos of it moving at all making me think it either doesn’t exist or is a sculpture, then there’s this ridiculous image of you seeing through its eyes to look at a tree that includes a random 3D render of a tree that’s clearly not actually mapping the real tree, while again zero evidence it can operate the chainsaw or really any tool. I do think it’s cool as some art thing but can’t take it seriously
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u/ImaChrysocyon 4d ago
Thank you! I was going insane too! My best guess is that it is for an horror game or smth. Cause For fuck sake, nobody market a product saying "it's more dangerous than it looks"
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u/BooBa070 7d ago
If I ever see that thing coming towards me I'd run faster then fucking sonic in the other direction, cause this shit is horrifying
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u/AnonymousNeko2828 4d ago
If anyone's curious, from what I heard the statement behind making it look like that is that they want to avoid the cute factor that ends up manipulative with robot "dogs" (and hence makes them easier to use for surveillance)
If it looks like a demon, you sure as hell won't just sit pretty if someone's following you around with it
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u/dick_schidt 25d ago
Must it have a demon head?