Robot Roll Call: Cambot!
I recently touched on my desire for my own personal recording device in the form of a robot camera that could follow me around and capture all those little moments that always seem so awesome and worth sharing, but which never come across as any more than a “eh, you had to be there” in the re-telling.
I’ve had a few people tell me that I’m not alone in this desire, and I know that it’s a very common theme in tv and movies to feature just this type of thing, so I plan to pay a small homage to my personal top five flying/floating surveillance devices. This list is only my top four, and is in part based on my views on aesthetics – I like compact, shiny and efficient things.
- Number 4
Random Marvel Flying Cameras (Marvel Comics)
What can I say, in comics and in cartoons Marvel sooner or later has someone hunt people down with flying cameras. In the ’90s cartoon series of Spiderman, Norman Osborn and Alistair Smythe hunt down Spidey with some robotic Spider-Slayers, leading the troops are small rocket-propelled cameras that follow Spidey as he swings through the city.
Reed Richards also had his own camera robots, which looked like mini-versions of HERBIE, and Dr Doom was reknowned for having robot everythings.
Number 3
Droids (Star Wars)
There are so many awesome droids to pick from in the Star Wars universe that I adore, and so many that I despise with a burning comparable only to the itchy kind you get after illicit night with a local in Indianapolis. But you can’t go far wrong with droids dedicated to surveillance and recording – unless you count the Hovercam from the racing scenes in Phantom Menace. You know, the one with lazy eye? Yeah.
But while Phantom Menace had a sucky hovercam mixed amongst a lot of other suckage, there is no denying the amount of win that surrounded Darth Maul, and the guy sure knew how to bring along the aces. Darth Maul’s Sith Probe Droids were small, sleek black floating balls. Silent and swift, these balls can track people unseen through busy residential areas. Just seeing Darth Maul sending the little fellas out on their mission showed that this was no amateur operation.
Also floating around during Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones was another efficient little camera droid, which looked like a cross between a bumblebee and an owl. The senate cam droid was pretty much the camera used by the domestic media, as opposed to military applications, and probably wouldn’t even be able to perform quality paparrazi work.
No mention of camera droids from Star Wars would be complete without a mention to those wonderful probe droids. Most notable is of course the mechanical jellyfish Viper probe droid from the Battle of Hoth (a droid I love so much because it used to scare me in that good Star Wars way) to the clam-shell look-a-like Prowler 1000 used by the Republic soldiers during the Clone Wars. Military spy-bots are sexah.
Number 2
Laserbeak (Transformers)
More than just a floating camera, Laserbeak was a full espionage and sabotage robot in the shape of a vulture. Even if his involvement was later cut down in favour of the much cooler designed Ratbat and he was nowhere as sleek and menacing as little kitty Ravage, Laserbeak was perhaps one of the most efficient spys in Soundwaves collective of intelligence operatives.
Laserbeak was most commonly noted for replaying audio tracks, because he was linked to a handler who transformed in to a tape player, but he did make use of a hidden video camera to record Autobot plans from time to time. Just why a robot with powerful optics required a secondary camera system to record footage and didn’t just store what it ‘saw’ is one of those “don’t ask” questions.
The other question is how Laserbeak managed to get all those camera angles, without being spotted right in front of the Autobot leadership. Either no-one thought about fixed camera positions and viewpoints or, more likely, the Autobots are just lame.
Of course, the Laserbeak from Transformers Energon took the flying camera idea a little bit further when it made the little golden bug-eyed budgie version of the classic Decepticon. They made him an Autobot that transforms between birdy, camcorder and laser gun mode.
Word has it that Laserbeak secretly films all the Transformer voyeur films that continuously fill ub the hard drive on Teletraan and was responsible for the now infamous leaked Blur Is Always Premature viral video.
Number 1
Cambot (Mystery Science Theatre 3000)
Let’s face it, Cambot had to come in here. Though I have to say that for the look, I only really like his final design of the floating eyeball – although his earlier designs did show that he was assembled from scap and so fitted a lot better.
Cambot acted as cameraman for the Satellite of Love crew, following their skits and then zooming down the access tunnel to film from the back of the theatre. Cambot never really expressed much personality beyond the Robot Roll Call where he kind of sounded like a cheesy photographer for a fashion magazine or ‘art pamphlet’, but he was a crucial part of the show.
Just to show I’m not alone in my love for these wonderful and inspiring stalkers, there are people who are trying to bring them to life. Granted they are mostly trying to create them to help blow other people up, but that’s life.
- A Soldier’s Eye in the Sky
FORT BLISS, Tex. — The soldiers crouched beneath the blazing desert sun, waiting to burst into the villages in conditions similar to those they have encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But this time, they got some high-tech help in an exercise intended to prove that new devices operated by the soldiers themselves can make those harrowing missions less dangerous in the future.
As the mock attack began on the sprawling military base here, tiny drones hovered overhead, peering through the windows to see insurgents gathered inside the houses. Small robots — like R2-D2 in “Star Wars” — crawled through some of the doors, flashing back live video of the startled enemy’s positions. Electronic sensors placed nearby watched escape routes. And a battery of six-foot-high missiles stood at the ready farther out in the desert to destroy vehicles that tried to rush in to help the insurgents.
“When I was in Iraq, we couldn’t see what we were busting into,” said Specialist Randall Thompson, who operates the robots. “But with this equipment, we can at least get a peek.”
….
The drones resemble flying lawnmower engines about the size of a beer keg that land on four curved wire feet. With the cameras on the drones acting like spotters, the ground-launched six-foot missiles, called “rockets in a box,” will eventually enable soldiers to destroy hostile forces more than 20 miles away without having to call in help from artillery units or other aircraft, Army officials say.
The robots could also search caves and cars at hazardous checkpoints. And the sensors could guard outposts and monitor areas cleared of insurgents, freeing more soldiers to fight.
[See full article here]
(Source: The New York Times, 11 August 2009)
Of course, we can’t forget the piece of tech that is not only high on my want list but no doubt being added to yours as soon as you hear about it: The Aeryon Scout. This is nearly everything I could hope for in a Cambot, though it lacks a ‘follow me’ feature and can only operate for twenty minutes, in that it is a quadrotor self-stabilising flying camera rig that can operate outside or indoors (even in confined spaces)