BeetleCam Gets Pics Of Wildlife Going “WTF”

Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 20 of April , 2010 at 12:10 am

Remember how robots are designed for tasks that are dull, dirty, or dangerous? Taking close-ups of African wildlife certainly can fall into that last category, especially when you’re trying to get super close up with big and temperamental animals like water buffalo or elephants or lions. Solution? DSLR + cute robot with big wheels (specifically, this). Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas built BeetleCam to get a new perspective on African animals. BeetleBot is controlled remotely from a Range Rover about 50 yards away, and has gotten into quite few shenanigans:

We thought that Elephants would be an easy subject for BeetleCam’s first outing. We were wrong… we quickly learned that Elephants are wary of unfamiliar objects and due to their highly sensitive hearing, they are almost impossible to sneak up on! Over the course of the trip, we learnt that the best way to photograph an elephant was to position the camera well in front of it and then let the animal approach in its own time. With this technique we enjoyed great success and managed to get some incredible photos of these colossal creatures.

After obtaining our first photographs of Elephants we were buoyed with optimism and decided to make our second subjects Lions. In hindsight this was a foolish idea; BeetleCam was promptly mauled, and carried off into the bush. A long recovery mission ensued and we were extremely lucky to retrieve an intact memory card from the mangled Canon 400D body. On downloading the images, we were delighted to find that BeetleCam had performed its duty admirably, and we got a great series of images from the encounter.

This is certainly not the first time robotic cameras have been used to molest wildlife, but I love BeetleCam’s adorable little DIY nature. Short video, after the jump.

Burrard-Lucas are currently at work on BeetleCam Mk.II, which may or may not include additional lion resistant features.

[ BeetleCam ] VIA [ Gadget Lab ]

Comments (3)

Category: DIY

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3 Comments

Comment by Spencer

Made Tuesday, 20 of April , 2010 at 12:27 am

I have to say this is quite awesome.

Comment by awessendorf

Made Tuesday, 20 of April , 2010 at 3:28 pm

Is it me or is that just about the cutest bot ever created? Cybernetic slavery doesn’t seem quite so bad when the enslavers are so darn cute (and talented..beautiful pics!).

Yup, awesome just about covers it.

Comment by Jay

Made Friday, 30 of April , 2010 at 12:39 am

So the next one will be able to upload files over a wireless connection, And maybe a hard shell to protect it’s inner bits?

Great shots.