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Does Pittsburgh Dream of Electric Sheep? No: It's Got One Already
Posted by Kit Eaton at 7:28 PM on July 15, 2008
A six-legged robotic sheep, with grass-mowing teeth and GPS navigation: gotta be inspired by Philip K. Dick, right? Yes, it is: Mower was created by Osman Khan, a visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon's School of Art, and is on display as part of the Bigbots exhibit at the Robot 250 festival. Mower roams around using GPS to place itself on grassy areas, has collision avoidance sensors and makes the most amusing array of sounds as it clatters about. Clearly intended to be a humorous reference to robotic lawnmowers and the "green" method of using real sheep to do it, he's on display at Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens. Robot 250 runs until July 28th. [Robot250 via BotJunkie]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
ceslami
Posted 8:59 PM 15/7/08
Electric Sheep FTW!
I think it deserves a post of its own. Not that sheep robots aren't cool...
ceslami
Kit Eaton
Posted 8:51 PM 15/7/08
@gorichgo!: In this case it's a twit of unidentified location at Botjunkie: apologies, my source site let me down there. Fixed now.
Kit Eaton
gorichgo [::]
Posted 8:28 PM 15/7/08
Hey, it's the first step towards a robot girlfriend.
Btw, Carnegie Melon/Phipps is located in Pittsburgh you British twits.
gorichgo [::]
Turin
Posted 8:22 PM 15/7/08
Best blog post title I've read all week. Kudos to you sir.
Turin
homerjay
Posted 9:30 PM 15/7/08
How...graceful.....?
homerjay
DMcGrew
Posted 9:28 PM 15/7/08
LOL I love my city. I've got to go see that thing.
DMcGrew
rudeadly
Posted 9:17 PM 15/7/08
What's it dragging?
rudeadly
strider_mt2k
Posted 9:05 PM 15/7/08
I sing the Bovine electric!
strider_mt2k
Curves
Posted 10:05 PM 15/7/08
Does it mulch the grass as it goes or does it internalize, compact, breakdown and occasionally drop perfect packages of electric manure?
Curves
CafeRacer1200
Posted 9:58 PM 15/7/08
@rudeadly:
One hell of a tapeworm.
CafeRacer1200
trogam
Posted 9:41 PM 15/7/08
Neat! *Takes Picture*
trogam
kryllen
Posted 10:07 PM 15/7/08
Six-legged sheep with cords strung out their bums scare me. (I just found that out)
kryllen
ideaman2020
Posted 10:56 PM 15/7/08
@kryllen: Sheep with double pupils scare me. [I just found that out]
ideaman2020
ideaman2020
Posted 10:54 PM 15/7/08
Now this is why I read Gizmodo.
[Not so much, the iPhones & penis stretching...]
ideaman2020
godwhacker
Posted 11:25 PM 15/7/08
@strider_mt2k:
or the ovis electric?
no really, i had no idea that sheep and cows were related like that
sharp, brudda, sharp
godwhacker
Titus_Andronicus
Posted 11:24 PM 15/7/08
phillip k dick? really?
i would have said douglass adams
but hey
maybe iol' phils's a little more whimsical than i give him credit for.
Titus_Andronicus
Richard Baguley
Posted 11:23 PM 15/7/08
@pj737: not to mention the fact that it has six legs. So it is a dual-eyeballed, six-legged sheep. Well, I guess at least that keeps it out of the uncanny valley...
Richard Baguley
pj737
Posted 11:13 PM 15/7/08
The two pupils on each eyeball is very disturbing.
pj737
maven2k
Posted 11:10 PM 15/7/08
It looks like the sheep on the mattress commercial!
maven2k
OMG! Ponies!
Posted 11:08 PM 15/7/08
Pittsburgh's new Steel Curtain defense leaves something to be desired.
OMG! Ponies!
Shub-Niggurath
Posted 11:52 PM 15/7/08
now if only sheep helped the job market.... :/
Shub-Niggurath
rsquared
Posted 11:50 PM 15/7/08
@Titus_Andronicus: Phillip K Dick wrote "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" the novel on which the movie "Bladerunner" is based. So, yes, PKD was the inspiration for this sheep.
rsquared
bobx3
Posted 12:56 AM 16/7/08
That's awesome.
Mark me down for 10.
bobx3
Intro24
Posted 9:42 AM 16/7/08
Creepy how it has four pupils and six legs.
Intro24
pittsburgh
Posted 8:24 PM 15/7/08
One problem, both Carnegie Mellon and Phipps (and the robot) are in Pittsburgh. Have more coffee, folks.
pittsburgh