Aringer - stylized life-size animatronic saber-tooth tiger

[Xevel]

Hey guys,


Sometime last week I quickly talked a little about a project I as working on with a great friend of mine : a life-sized (1.5m high, more than 2m long) stylized saber tooth tiger with a slightly animated head.
The sculpture is made out of a steel frame and scooter/motorcycle parts. It is strong enough to be ridden by multiple people - it makes for great photos



The body is all Romain's work, and even for the head, that we did completely together, we followed mostly his artistic vibes ^^.
The head can move left/right, the lips can retract to show the teeth, and it has two pairs of ears (more like the cats in Avatar than anything real). The eyes glow red and there are reasonably-sized speakers in the head, with a big subwoofer in the body. The sound has been made by another friend of ours, and is mostly inspired by sounds of motorbikes and cats, lions and tigers.

There are two US distance sensors in the legs so that Aringer can (roughly) track people in front of him and turn his head to face them. Sounds are coordinated with the distance at wich people are standing: a peaceful breathing/purr when people are far away, a threatening growl when they come closer and roaring when they come too close.
The lips, ears and eyes are synchronized with the sound to make the reaction more impressive ^^

Unfortunately I don't have any great video, I'll try to get some ASAP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7gVX2As7ik

Finally, there are patterns that only reveal themselves when you take a picture with the flash:



Some fun with humanoid robots... Poppy and Nao are maybe a little small, but I could not convince Reem-C, Aria, iCub nor Roemo to ride :/
I guess tiger-riding is not the most useful skill when developing elderly-care robots





It's the first time we work together on a project, and we had to find our pace, to understand the differences in each other's approach, the different tools and skills, etc. An awesome experience Next time we'll make something with even cooler mechanics, much better control.

[Carl]

Robots riding robots, it can't get much better than that!

The tiger is impressive and the detail of the decoration is also remarkable. I would love to see it move, I can imagine a smooth predator.

Kudos, that is really something to be proud of

[kgranat]

That is amazing! I can't wait to see some video of it in action.

[Fanatic]

Finally, there are patterns that only reveal themselves when you take a picture with the flash.....

Really majestic project Xevel and team!

How'd you get it to reveal with flash?

[Xevel]

Thanks all

How'd you get it to reveal with flash?

Retroreflective material. The same stuff there is on road workers jackets. The cool thing about this material is that it also comes in black and yet keeps its reflective properties: it's white when lit from the point you look at it (flash), and black the rest of the time ^^

[Xevel]

After searching far and wide, I could not find a ggood quality video of the event, with both motion (reaction) and sound :/
The beast was halfway in the sun, halfway in the shadows and my camera could not cope, so I don't have anything :/

Still, here are two videos of the head moving :

[Xevel]

Warning : annoying buzzing sound!



This one had the "breathing" effect with sorts of gills on the side of the head. We removed it later as it was not robust enough, and the sound did not work wll with the rest of the beast.

[CasperH]

Now that is slick! It reminds me of the Pokémon called Umbreon.

Robot enthusiasts and art sculptors should get together more often.

Was it made for a specific event? Will it be showcased somewhere?

Now where is the picture with you riding it?

[DangerousThing]

It is a very nice project. And yes, artists and engineers should hang around together more.

Rather than riding, I'd love to see a video of it purring nicely at somebody's feet.

[Xevel]

@CasperH The beast has been done first and foremost for the beauty of it. It has been showcased at a motorbike show, on the Yamaha booth, and at Innorobo (in Lyon, France) - the biggest (pro) robotics event we have in France. It will probably see some more action, but primarily around Lyon since it's a little complicated to move around. The body can be split in two parts, and the head can be removed for transportatation, but moving the parts still need at the very least a 9m^3 van...

@DangerousThing Purring, as well as more subtle movements and behaviour, may be on the menu for the next one if we ever get to build it...