'Transformer' BMW Turns Into A Giant Robot (vice.com) 45
An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes Motherboard:
Real-life Transformers are apparently already a thing thanks to a Turkish company called Letvision. They can't do battle with Decepticons, but they can turn their heads from side to side and move their arms and fingers and, erm, shoot smoke from between their legs. Oh, and they can do the whole changing from a 2013 BMW to an upright robot bit [video]. That's pretty cool, too.
But of course there's a catch. Each of the four available Transformers (which Letvision gave the copyright-friendly name of "Letrons") has a functional steering wheel, but you can only "drive" them remotely because Letvision stuffed the seating spaces with the hydraulics and electronics needed for the conversion.
Letvision's demo video has the clever title "Rise of LETRONS", and shows the vehicle spontaneously beginning its transformation after a newscaster announces, "Our country is under invasion by extraterrestrials."
But of course there's a catch. Each of the four available Transformers (which Letvision gave the copyright-friendly name of "Letrons") has a functional steering wheel, but you can only "drive" them remotely because Letvision stuffed the seating spaces with the hydraulics and electronics needed for the conversion.
Letvision's demo video has the clever title "Rise of LETRONS", and shows the vehicle spontaneously beginning its transformation after a newscaster announces, "Our country is under invasion by extraterrestrials."
Disappointing (Score:1)
Well that's rather disappointing. It doesn't so much as transform as the side panels pop out and it rears up on a single pivot near the back wheels. When it does something a little more like the below transformer (and walks) I'll be a little more impressed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxa2T8_NDos
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
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The main joke being probably that in Germany, a low-end BMW is the stereotypical car for young Turks wanting to show off.
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Well they are all angry that they couldn't afford a Mercedes.
However I expect it is you is angry at them and portray when even a BMW driver is bad, that you put them all in the same bucket, while someone who may be equally nasty in a beat up Honda, you just classify as some low level slob and drive away in your fancy newer car, confident that you are better than that.
However it is Baby Boomer thing, to try to show status based on the car they drive, less so in Gen X and even less in Millennials. It would
Re: Disappointing (Score:5, Funny)
Re: Disappointing (Score:2)
A better idea (Score:2)
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Please pay attention, there's already several of those on the market.
https://encrypted.google.com/s... [google.com]
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You call that a car? That's more like a glorified wheelchair.
Pfffffttt.......we already got Transformers in most Chevy Camaro dealerships and here is proof! ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: A better idea (Score:2)
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Please pay attention, there's already several of those on the market.
https://encrypted.google.com/s... [google.com]
That's just several links referring to the same car.
boring (Score:2)
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Yeah, it's a giant radio control toy. Nothing cool about that at all.
In general extremes of anything are cool. Along those lines the real problem is that the robot needs to be bigger. That said, what would be even cooler is to go the other direction: make a toy that does this transformation, but which would fit on the nail of your pinkie finger. That would actually be awesome.
I hate this "a thing" bullshit (Score:4, Interesting)
Especially when it's used as a justification in an argument ("sorry, that's not a thing"). It's even worse than abuse of the word 'literal.'
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It's literally even worse than abuse of the word 'literal', which is a thing.
FTFY
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You should read this. [xkcd.com]
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In an argument I generally see it used as a shortened version of "That's not a thing that exists," which seems like a legitimate point to make in the cases where it comes up.
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To me, it's laziness. Instead of making a proper counter, it's the equivalent of saying "nuh uuuhh because I said so."
I reversed your counter, it's not a thing. (Score:2)
"Counter" is not a noun.
Unless you meant "instead of making a proper counter, he used a binary-shift-left over a 16 bit register", or "instead of making a proper counter, he stuck a plank of wood on a pile of cinder-blocks."
This is as annoying as saying "reversed" to mean "reverse engineered"
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"Counter" is not a noun.
This is false. I have counters in my kitchen and bathrooms.
Turkish dorkery is off the charts ... (Score:2)
Living in Germany turks and people of turkish descent are a part of everyday life. We've got roughly 3 Million people with turkish heritage, many in 2nd and 3rd generation, and turkish is the second most spoken language here.
What I've long since discovered is that when Turks go dorky, they clear the bar for dorkyness in an instant. :-)
The video and the tacky pseudo-transformer it features is about as turkish as it gets in that regard.
Not really what I'd consider a 'robot' (Score:2)
Car mode looks fine, but the humanoid mode looks like the robot is standing in the unaltered rear third of the car, and the arms and head look useless.
If it can't walk or pick up things, it's not good enough yet.
This one looks like it's not quite as advanced as this one: http://mashable.com/2014/10/23... [mashable.com]
Only a human-sized model last I checked, but far more functional.
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Having worked in robotics, I can tell you that there are three levels of performance that people use to evaluate robots:
1. Can it navigate around obstacles?
2 .Can it get me a beer?
3. Can it find Sarah Connor?
Saving mankind from Megatron has got to be a 4 at least.
Happy Meal Transformer at best (Score:2)