Robot Rides Motorcycles Efficiently, Terrifyingly

By Dan Smith Posted 07.21.2009 at 10:10 am 12 Comments

Flossie: Plotting our 2-wheeled demise

Let me introduce you to Flossie, the creepy motorcycle-driving robot. She will drive through scorching heat and freezing cold without a complaint. She will shift perfectly every time. She will haunt your dreams.

Terminator: Just around the corner

Flossie was constructed by Castrol to be used in lubricant testing for just about any motorcycle. Flossie allows testers to monitor how lubricants function over time in a variety of situations, with Flossie the one constant, shifting and riding the bike perfectly each time. The most disturbing part of Flossie's design is that she learns, all by herself, how to get a feel for each bike and how to ride it. To what end, might you ask? Well, the obvious answer is: to become self-aware, evolve, and enslave us all.

In the video below you get a view of Flossie in action. The video ends ominously by calling Flossie "a safe rider". Let's hope we don't regret those words.

[via Engadget]

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12 Comments

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Brammofan

07/21/09 at 11:05 am

First commenter? Okay, if I must: "I, for one, welcome our new motorcycle-riding overlords."

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wayneNtampa

07/21/09 at 11:09 am

Castrol, A wholly-owned subsidiary of Cyberdyne Systems Corporation?

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JamesDonVito

07/21/09 at 1:48 pm

Well, it makes a great ad for Castrol! Once it learns to balance it'll be even more creepy.

Here's a link to some other cool Robo-Bikes:
http://fusionfilter.com/?p=1162

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beesnuts

07/21/09 at 3:53 pm

why always dissin the robots? resistence is futile after all.

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07/21/09 at 6:26 pm

Ultimate robot rider? They built an electro-mechanical throttle/braking/shifting system. Big deal. When Flossie can take a hair pin at 90 mph without scraping some teflon off of her robo-knee, then I'll be impressed. Until then, she's just a automated dyno operator. Relax the hype a little until you find something a bit more impressive.

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meyaht

07/22/09 at 8:13 am

i'm with z

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maxtor2009

07/22/09 at 10:51 am

01110100011000010110101101100101001000000110110101100101001000000111010001101111001000000111100101101111011101010111001000100000011011000110010101100001011001000110010101110010

Transaltion:
Take me to your leader

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maxtor2009

07/22/09 at 10:53 am

oops translation

Tee Hee

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genedoug

07/26/09 at 5:38 am

This is a human achievement that surpasses a moon landing? Gimme a break.

I nominate the discovery that beer is health food.

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ecobase

07/30/09 at 10:18 am

I don't like this. Just don't! It doesn't have a head.

Mira - www.whitenteeth.net

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Brin Londo

08/02/09 at 6:21 pm

DISAPPOINTED!!!!!! No wheelies, not stoppies, no power slides, no knee dragging. I want a real motorcycle riding robot and I want it now. Call me when you have one.

All my love, Brin

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Q42

10/29/09 at 10:40 am

Oh, come on!

Sure, Flossie sits on the bike and works the controls, but she/it is STATIONARY. It's just a system used to work the bike's mechanisms out in a test chamber. I'd be much more impressed if this thing could actually ride a MOVING motorcycle, say on a test track, than what they show in the video.

So, no worries about biker bots going on a rampage anytime soon.