No, it’s not another Anaconda movie: it’s Titanoboa, a monstrous 35-foot robot designed to mimic the movements and appearances of a real snake.
The gigantic robot, weighing in at over 1700 pounds, is currently a prototype of a much larger model that the team plans to unveil at the end of the year. As if 35 feet wasn’t long enough for a giant snake robot.
The machine was designed by a group of researchers called the Mondo Crew, from British Columbia, Canada, who were looking to experiment with alternative methods of propulsion. Choosing to go with the slithering motions of a snake is and build a robot around the concept is, to say the least, a fairly creepy thing to see in motion.
To get a feel for what this bad boy looks like in action, take a look at the video clip below.
Just getting the machine to move is incredibly complex. It’s built from hundres of parts that each move individually and require a very skilled operator to handle properly.
According to our source, the team currently has plans to make the next model look more realistic, adding a “ore polished-looking skin” and even the ability to make it move underwater like a real snake!
The team has also worked on other robots in the past, such as a giant arachnid-like machine called the Mondo Spider, which is capable of transporting a human on it’s back across the room. Together with Titanoboa, the two robots make a eery addition to any robot showroom.
Apparently he researchers got the name for Titanoboa, and some of the inspiration, from giant snake fossils. Apparently creatures this big used to live around 60 million years ago, and could swallow prey the size of humans; not exactly something I would want to bump into on a dark night.
Be sure to also check out a Creepy Breathing Kinectic Sculpture, or how bout some less threatening robots, like a Robotic Bear Pillow to Tickle you to Sleep and
