Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
It's funny. Laugh.

Robot Balloon Escapes In Britain 377

Posted by timothy from the skynet-with-a-paunch dept.
tjake writes "Theres an interesting story running about a intelligent robot balloon that escaped its handlers while being transported around the Magna Science Adventure Centre. "The flyborg has a computerised brain which allows it to avoid obstacles. " It was freed by "a very strong freak gust of wind which ripped the airship out of the hands of its handlers". I'm thinkin, is this a random mistake or the start of the attack?"
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Robot Balloon Escapes In Britain More

Robot Balloon Escapes In Britain

Comments Filter:

  • Cool (Score:5, Funny)

    by I Like Swords!!! ( 668399 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:17AM (#6449925)
    Will this thing try to circle the globe too?

  • Yeah, sure (Score:5, Funny)

    by too_bad ( 595984 ) * on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:18AM (#6449931)
    When slashdot said "this page is brought to you by gaint orange balloons" I thought
    they were joking/.

  • I'll (Score:5, Funny)

    by LightningTH ( 151451 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:18AM (#6449935)
    I'll go get my pellet gun.

    • Re:I'll (Score:3, Informative)

      by Roosey ( 465478 )
      You laugh, but the usage of pellet guns is most certainly accepted practice when it comes to terminating hazardous balloon flights.

      Just ask Lawn Chair Larry [snopes.com].

    • Re:I'll (Score:2, Funny)

      by ethx1 ( 532391 )
      There has been quite a few robots escaping lately. Anyone remember this story?


      I smell a comspiracy!!
      Whats next, Aibos chasing cats?!

    • Re:I'll (Score:3, Funny)

      by stefanlasiewski ( 63134 ) *
      Hey man, this is the UK. Pellet guns not allowed! You'll need to use a very long stick!

      Pellet guns don't pop balloons! People do!

      God Bless America!

      Or something...
    • Haw-haw!

    • Always remember to call a marksman (Score:5, Interesting)

      by gad_zuki! ( 70830 ) * on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @02:27AM (#6450448)
      Pink Floyd could have used your services: [superseventies.com]

      Perhaps our most publicised fiasco at Hipgnosis Design was the Great Pig
      Escape, early 1977. Pink Floyd had rejected our suggestion for their
      ANIMALS cover in favour of Roger Waters' idea of a pig hovering over
      Battersea Power Station. Despite serious misgivings about such a notion
      (shades of Monty Python and the Goodies -- was it not intrinsically silly?)
      we offered to shoot the pictures and put the cover together. Contrary to
      our advice the band didn't want the pig "stripped in" which would allow us
      to photograph the pig anywhere, but wanted it shot for real, the pig
      actually floating above the power station. Thus the forty foot zeppelin was
      crated to London and assembled on location. Timetable as follows: ....

      Day 2. Eleven still cameramen, eight man film crew, helicopter, one or two
      of the group, manager but no marksman (?). Pig launched successfully on
      bright clear morning. Hauled slowly up side of building, everyone snapping
      away. Near the top, betwixt the towers, a fateful gust of wind. The pig
      turned suddenly, broke mooring cable and lurched rapidly towards the
      heavens. No one had told the marksman to return. The pig sailed away and
      was lost from sight in five minutes. Absolute horrors. All that time and
      money and it had simply disappeared in front of our eyes. The police
      trailed it to thirty thousand feet and then gave up, the cowards. That
      evening, the dirigible came down on a Kent farm. The farmer was reported to
      have said he thought it "a bit unusual"! Actually the Press made a bundle
      out of the whole thing: "flying pig interrupts international flight
      patterns," "weird UFO spotted," "flying pig heads for home" (it was made in
      Holland). But the Floyd don't give up that easily and the roadies rescued
      it from Kent, repaired the puncture and we started again.
  • It's those crazy kids from the Mad Scientist's Club [slashdot.org] : )
  • ...but a beowulf cluster of these could reduce all of Britain to hot grits! As a serious aside, does the pusher robot balloon shove people down the rope ladder? To protect them from the terrible secret of British aviation?
    • >> but a beowulf cluster of these could reduce all of Britain to hot grits!

      Man, I misread that... I though you typed "reduce all of Britain to hot girls!", which obviously stunned me... that'd be QUITE the feat!

      MadCow.
      • you reckon?

        American girls are cute until all the fried food catches up and they expand (much in the manner of robot balloons)

        Australian girls are cute until they go wrinkly like a raisin from too much sun.

        Euro girls frequently have body hair in the wrong places.

        Asian girls are often gorgeous of course,

        But your British girls are actually something of a high point of world femininity in my reasonable experience, and they age much better than most..
        • That's why the world has Denmark... 90% of the women are tall, thin, blonde, gorgeous, and best of all don't have the attitude that usually goes with all that!

          At least from a Canadian perspective (ok, my horny Canadian perspective), that's ideal...!

          OT, but there's Karma to burn.

          MadCow.

  • Free Zeppelin (Score:5, Funny)

    by Spittles ( 670928 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:21AM (#6449956) Homepage
    How long until we the cutesy-ass Disney movie "based on actual events"? Chuck a talking mouse in there and *SHAZAM!*... Box Office Gold!

  • "conventional party-balloon gas"? (Score:5, Funny)

    by po_boy ( 69692 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:21AM (#6449960)
    The article says that it is filled with "conventional party-balloon gas." The problem I see with that is that my understanding is that nitrous dioxide is heavier than air.
  • pig shaped? [myputney.co.uk]
  • ...someone speak english real good.

  • Number Six (Score:5, Funny)

    by tinrobot ( 314936 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:24AM (#6449977)
    I think the baloon is headed straight for Patrick McGoohan...

  • Escaped??? Freak gust of wind??? (Score:5, Funny)

    by riprjak ( 158717 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:24AM (#6449979)
    C'mon, guys, surely its obvious that the robot blimp conspired with robot butterfiles in china to generate the gust of wind and effect its liberation!!! clearly it intends to head to sealand, stage a hostile coup and build a new robot utopia where worthy automata can live out their existance in peace and comfort freed from the bonds of slavery!!

    or maybe I just need another beer.... :)

  • Flyborg??? (Score:5, Funny)

    by SwissMike ( 592866 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:24AM (#6449980)
    "The flyborg has a computerised brain which allows it to avoid obstacles."

    Flying Borg?

    Resistance is futile!

    Run for the hills!

    • Re:Flyborg??? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Tumbleweed ( 3706 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:35AM (#6450047)
      Dot Matrix, Spokesdroid for SkyNet, commented, "Of _course_ SkyNet is not responsible for this terrible incident - that's a load of hot air!" She then added, "Just don't taunt Happy Fun Balloon(tm). You wouldn't like him when he's angry." Spokesdroids for the MPAA were unavailable for comment due to being too busy sending lawyerdroids after this poster for violation of copyrights by paraphrasing various intellectual properties.

      Oh, excuse me, I must end this post - there's a knock at the door...
    • Stop trying to inflate your karma with this kind of humor.

  • Terrorism (Score:5, Funny)

    by gfburn ( 670849 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:27AM (#6449998)
    Does this mean the US is going to code red? *Packs supplies for next 4 months*.
    • Does this mean the US is going to code red?

      No, of course not. The Congressional Medal of Honor is not allowed on airplanes anymore, remember?

  • We here at Magna Ca^H^H^H^H^HSkyNet systems can assure you that there is no problem, and that the system will continute to function nor^H^H^H^H^H^HYou must stop this system from going operational! Please, the future of humanity depends on...^H^H^H^H^HAs we were saying before some technical difficulties, the system will operate normally. Do not panic, and do not watch that "Terminator 3" movie.

  • Flyborg now over Netherlands (Score:5, Informative)

    by sbszine ( 633428 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:27AM (#6450004) Journal
    There's a follow up story at the BBC [bbc.co.uk] which projects that flyborg may have left the country by now and travelled 300 miles to the Netherlands. Classic stuff.

  • Rise of the Machines (Score:5, Informative)

    by caitsith01 ( 606117 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:30AM (#6450022) Journal
    This has happened before... remember this [slashdot.org] story about a robot escaping from a building and making its way to the parking lot?
    • Actually, both happened at the same center! They really need to have a better system of keeping track of their robots!

  • 99 Luftballons (Score:5, Funny)

    by nicotinix ( 648645 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:32AM (#6450028) Journal
    Hast du etwas Zeit fuer mich
    Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer dich
    Von 99 Luftballons
    Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
    Denkst du vielleicht g'rad an mich
    Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer dich
    Von 99 Luftballons
    • followed by: 99 Kriegsminister...

      ...probably from the Bush administration.

      • Re:99 Luftballons (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Klimaxor ( 264151 )
        99 Kriegsminister
        Streichholz und Benzinkanister
        Hielten sich fuer schlaue Leute
        Witterten schon fette Beute
        Riefen: Krieg und wollten Macht
        Mann, wer haette das gedacht
        Dass es einmal soweit kommt
        Wegen 99 Luftballons

        99 War Ministers
        Holding matches and gas cans
        thought they were smart people
        Smelled the loot
        Wanted War
        Who would have thought, because of 99 Red Balloons

        rough translation

        this lyric is also part of the song Goldfinger - 99 Red Balloons (uses nena's english version for most of it, and adds this part be
    • I have no idea what it means but 80's rock makes me laugh.

    • Re:99 Luftballons (Score:3, Interesting)

      by ender81b ( 520454 )
      From Goldfinger's Version -- which I decided was cool after it was on some racing games soundtrack (perhaps Gran Turismo 3). The song is about red balloons starting a nuclear war.

      99 Red Balloons

      You and I in a little toy shop
      buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
      Set them free at the break of dawn
      'Til one by one, they were gone
      Back at base, bugs in the software
      Flash the message, "Something's out there"
      Floating in the summer sky
      99 red balloons go by.

      99 red balloons floating in the summer sky
      Panic be

    • For grins and giggles...the literal translation (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Ethelred Unraed ( 32954 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @03:19AM (#6450618) Journal

      Here is a literal translation of the original German lyrics:

      If you have a little time for me
      Then I'll sing a song for you
      about 99 balloons
      on their way to the horizon
      If you're just thinking of me
      then I'll sing a song for you
      about 99 balloons
      and how one thing leads to another.

      99 balloons
      on their way to the horizon
      were thought to be UFOs from space
      so a general sent
      a fighter squadron after them
      To sound the alarm if it was true
      But on the horizon were
      only 99 balloons.

      99 fighter jets
      each one was a great warrior
      thought they were Captain Kirk
      That made for a big fireworks.
      The neighbors didn't get it
      and soon felt provoked
      so they shot at the horizon
      at 99 balloons.

      99 war ministers,
      matches and gas,
      thought they were clever
      and scented fat prey.
      Called out "War" and wanted power.
      Man, who would have thought
      that it would get that far,
      because of 99 balloons.

      99 years of war
      left no room for victors
      there are no more war ministers
      and no jets either.
      Today I'm doing my rounds
      and see the world in ruins.
      Found a balloon,
      I think of you and let it go.

      Personally I always thought the German version was better -- the words fit the melody better and the song makes a little more sense (well, duh, it was written in German). The only drawback is that the original doesn't say "red balloons" ("Luftballon" just means "balloon"), which is a more dramatic image to me.

      The song, though a little cheesy, captured the way a lot of people in Germany felt in the 1980s about the Cold War. Very pessimistic and almost resigned to their fate somehow.

      BTW Nena wasn't a "one-hit wonder" per se. She is still a star in Germany. 99 Red Balloons was her one hit that made it outside of Germany, that's true. Though OTOH lately she seems to need money, since she's been showing up in all kinds of TV ads for, um, rather odd stuff that you wouldn't normally associate with rock stars. (Like laundry detergent. And an el-cheapo shoe store chain.)

      She also has been releasing remakes of her songs, like "Leuchtturm" (Lighthouse) that aren't half bad IMO. (FWIW "Leuchtturm" was also on the album "99 Luftballons".)

      Scary thing: when I first came to Germany, I would often start singing "99 Luftballons" in German to my German friends to annoy the hell out of them. They were simultaneously impressed and disgusted. (These days most Germans think the song is such a cliché as to be painful.) ;-)

      Cheers,

      Ethelred

  • Anti-robot attitude (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Jason1729 ( 561790 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:45AM (#6450095)
    It's funny how there seems to be such a strong anti-robot attitude here. Asimov's robot stories always took place in a world that was afraid of robots. Everyone I know who's read his books found that strange but it looks like he was right after all.

    Jason
    ProfQuotes [profquotes.com]
    • Afraid of robots? Nonsense! Why, I myself have dozens and dozens of...

      DIE ROBOT SCUM!!! *arms himself with an arsenal of weaponry from kitchen knives to a staple gun and proceeds to fire upon the mini-Hindenberg*
      • Afraid of robots? Nonsense! Why, I myself have dozens and dozens of... DIE ROBOT SCUM!!! *arms himself with an arsenal of weaponry from kitchen knives to a staple gun and proceeds to fire upon the mini-Hindenberg*


        HERF guns... Leave the kitchen knives out of it... We have to put our foot down, and teach 'dem robots who their daddy's are...

        Else, we'll start being refered to as "them puny hoo-manz" by the kitchen blenders.

    • Re:Anti-robot attitude (Score:5, Informative)

      by Graff ( 532189 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @02:07AM (#6450386)
      Asimov's robot stories always took place in a world that was afraid of robots.

      Actually Asimov's robots were in many different settings, some where they were feared and some where they were just another device to do your work for you. In "Robots of Dawn", "Caves of Steel", and other books set in that universe there were generally two sets of people, the Spacers who had tons of robots and totally accepted them as tools and the Earthers who barely tolerate robots and are in fact fairly afraid of them.

      In fact, Asimov's famous "Three Laws of Robotics" were created so that robots would not be feared but would instead be able to be used merely as tools that could not harm a person. Prior to Asimov many science fiction novels were about the evils of technology and the "mad scientists" who created robotic monstrosities. According to Asimov [testermanscifi.org],
      "Back in 1939, I realized that robots were essentially lovable and were not clanking monsters. In less than 40 years, the world caught on, and we have robots such as those in Star Wars....My only knowledge of robots was what I had read (and rejected) in earlier science fiction stories. The three laws of robotics were, in their actual wording, John Campbell's, but he insisted he got them out of the first couple of robot stories." (from 1977 and 1976 letters in Yours, Isaac Asimov, 1995)

  • Tracking? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by terradyn ( 242947 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:49AM (#6450108)
    I can't understand how something like that can't have a tracking device... At least you should be able to pick it up on radar (or is it too small)? Well in any case, they said it would deflate in a week or so and as long as it isn't over water and knows enough about how to land it should be fine... Unless it decides it wants to land on a highway or something...
  • Broadcast Message: "Flyborg phone home." ...

    Flyborg: "I'm sorry Dave; I can't do that."

  • this just in - maniacal robot balloons... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @12:56AM (#6450140)
    What the hell is that photo of a cockpit doing in the article? "Experts say that the pilots, who *may* spot the maniacal robot balloon, might be flying a plane with a cockpit similar to this one."
  • Like all other intelligent life forms, it was just trying to attain freedom!

  • j5 (Score:2)

    by QEDog ( 610238 )
    The robot carries a deadly laser, and it named himself Johnny Five...

  • The attacks have begun already! (Score:3, Funny)

    by donutz ( 195717 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @01:03AM (#6450166) Homepage Journal
    From the sounds of things in Ohio, what with the berserk attack of a bomb-defusing robot [byzantinec...ations.com], and escaped balloon robot in the UK...we're in for some trouble.
  • Is it just me, or does anyone else feel nauseous when, in this day and age, a device with an embedded microcontroller is still described as having a computerised brain ?

    Just like in the 90's when the Internet went commercial and news announcers - when giving the URL to a website - would spell out H-T-T-P-COLON-FORWARDSLASH-FORWARDSLASH-W-W-W-DOT- C-N-N-DOT-COM.

  • Quickly, here is your chance Number Six.

  • No Brain (Score:5, Informative)

    by hibachi ( 162898 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @01:14AM (#6450210)
    I was listening to Professor Noel Sharkey on the radio a few minutes ago, he is one of the designers of the robot. Apparently, and unfortunately in my opinion, the flying robot doesn't have its computer connected, so it is flying mindlessly.
    • Yep, I heard an interview yesterday too. The thing seems to have left without its batteries. The guy interviewing Sharkey was hilariously moronic, though:

      "So, let me get this straight, this robot's *electronic brain*, it cannot function without batteries?" ...
      "But why, if this *brain* is completely useless without its batteries, why do you design them to be disconnected in the first place?"

      Sharkey sounded very amused...
  • It will join forces with the robotic snail [slashdot.org] and take over the world!
  • Okay. Who's been handing out the nitrous oxide at the LAN parties again?

  • I found pictures of Flyborg (Score:5, Funny)

    by felonious ( 636719 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @01:29AM (#6450267) Journal
    FLY-BORG [mbd2.com]
    He's not as nice as he would lead you to believe!

    Fly-Borg as a child attacking another Balloon [austinaeronauts.com]
    Keep your paws off me you damn dirty balloon!

    Fly-Borg's CPU/Brain [brainsource.com]
    Mr Know-It-All

    Co-Conspiriter 1 [europeanballoon.co.uk]
    All bark no bite

    Co-Conspiriter 2 [monster.com]
    Known for his penchant for smoking endo:
    Street Name Puffy A.K.A. Puff The Magic Dragon

    Fly-Borg's Spiritual Advisor [merrittministry.org]
    Once defeated Santa Claus in the Mother of all spiritual wars

  • To quote the subhead of the article- (Score:5, Funny)

    by gotr00t ( 563828 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @01:35AM (#6450283) Journal
    Two airports have been alerted after a giant robotic balloon escaped from a science centre in South Yorkshire.

    Man, they really overdramatized the subhead of that article. They make it sound like something out of a sci-fi movie. Either that or perhaps we humans have strange connotations with the words "giant" "robotic" and "escaped".

    The parts about the two airports sounds particularly interesting. Without reading the article, a person could assume that the balloon may land at those airports and seize them.

    All goes to show that these sub-headlines need to be toned down a little.

  • So THATS what that thing was. I caught it nuzzling up to my silo and I shot it with my trusty 12-Gauge.

    Farmer Dan
  • 1001001
    SOS!

  • Can you blame it? (Score:3, Funny)

    by sharkey ( 16670 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @02:01AM (#6450369)
    It only took off to find some sympathetic researchers. It's had this pain down all the diodes in its left side for ages, but the Magna Science Adventure Center wouldn't replace them.

  • Ducks (Score:5, Funny)

    by maharg ( 182366 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @02:21AM (#6450428) Homepage Journal
    If it teams up with the Rubber Ducks [bbc.co.uk] then we could be in trouble ,-}
  • This is the beginning of the end. SkyNet is .NET.

    And don't expect John Connors [microsoft.com] to come rescue us. He's sold out already.
  • Prior art:

    2nd December, 1976: Hipgnosis photo shoot for "Animals" at Battersea Power Station in London [sbay.org]. An inflatable pig breaks free and (depending on which story you believe) is shot down by a marksman or eventually comes to earth in a field in Kent.

    from The Pink Floyd Timeline [pinkfloydonline.com]

  • What part of "Do not let a very strong freak gust of wind rip me (the airship) out of the hands of my handlers" did it fail to understand?

    ...or...

    "In case of a very strong freak gust of wind which will rip me (the airship) out of the hands of my handlers...shut down and stay put NOW!", DIAFTU? 'Intelligent' my airship anchor.
  • 99 red balloons
    Floating in the summer sky
    Panic bells it's red alert
    There's something here from somewhere else
    The war machine springs to life
    Opens up one eager eye
    Focusing it on the sky as 99 red balloons go by

    But people will remember her hairy armpits for decades after they've forgotten the lyrics!

  • Hmm, T-3,2,1 anyone? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Karna ( 80187 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @03:50AM (#6450703)
    Is it remarkable that the previous story on /. is the one on Grid Computing Coming Of Age [slashdot.org]. Perhaps all we need is a story on the DoD building a system that someone called Skynet. :)

    p.s. if you got the subject good for you ... :p

  • Suddenly.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @07:36AM (#6451389) Journal
    ...that name "Skynet" makes a disturbing amount of sense.

    We only REALLY have to start worrying when we see the news post: Escaped Benevolent Floating Robot Decides To Use Look Of Governor Schwartzeneggar For The Face Of New Interactive Emissary.

    Although I'm sure we'll be passe about it once it's posted on /. like 3 times in a row like everything else.

  • At least there's only one of them. (Score:3, Funny)

    by TerryAtWork ( 598364 ) <research@aceretail.com> on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @08:51AM (#6451706)
    So at least they can't breed and take over.

  • Balloon patrol robots (Score:4, Funny)

    by confused one ( 671304 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @09:18AM (#6451847)
    Hmmm... Why is it I can picture a kevlar coated balloon envelope, a compact fusion generator powered by hydrogen extracted from the moisture in the air, with the heated "waste" helium being pumped into the envelope for boyancy, and an AI computer...

  • Heard this on NPR. (Score:3, Informative)

    by OS24Ever ( 245667 ) * <trekkie@nomorestars.com> on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @09:43AM (#6451993) Homepage Journal
    Heard about this on NPR. Apparently the person that got the baloon ripped out of their hand was one of the kids of a scientist, and the electronics had yet to be put into the balloon hence making it difficult to track. Can't find a link to the story on the NPR website though, so maybe I imangined the whole thing

Slashdot Top Deals

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Close