Build Date: Thu Jan 30 05:10:38 2025 UTC
There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks.
-- William S. Burroughs
Deadly Robot Car Wreaks Havoc in Desert Rampage
2006-03-12 11:42:34
In this shocking video, a fully autonomous armored assault vehicle is seen performing manouvers somewhere in the California desert. Or maybe it's just a 1982 Toyota Camry. Decide for yourself.
[Please note, the headline and opening paragraph of this story are highly misleading. I'm sorry, but you have to admit that this version sounds better than "Internet Video from 2003 Makes Rounds Again".]
Check out what happens when several desert racing junkies combine a $170 junker car, a few hobby store servos, and a frighteningly insufficient brake actuator into a full-size R/C car. The action really gets started when they take the car out to the desert for a a test drive. The cameraman mounted a camera inside the cab of the car, which makes for some exciting footage during an abortive attempt at a barrel roll off of a dune. At the same time, a handheld camera shows us the eager onlookers standing only feet away from this hacked-together gasoline-powered toy as it flies through the air.
The really amazing thing about this video is just how much abuse a 1982 Toyota Camry can take. After multiple six-foot-plus high jumps (and subsequent landings), the Camry is still going. Even after being rolled, the car makes it back on the track after a wheel change.
Of course, all good things must end. When the giant R/C car finally catches fire after a particularly spectacular cartwheel landing, one of the crew helps extinguish the fire by pissing into the engine bay. Then several others run over the car with their giant trucks. For desert racing fans, this is an obvious and unremarkable course of action.
It makes me proud that Americans are free to build robot cars, crash them, and then urinate on their flaming remains. That, right there, is the difference between us, and those fuckers who hate freedom.
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