Medical Robotics goes to the Cats

Posted 17 Aug 2005 at 16:06 UTC by The Swirling Brain

Carlo Bertocchini has a cute little black cat named Elvis. Elvis was involved in a tragic accident with a truck and lost the use of his hind legs. So, Carlo created a robotic mobility platform for his cat so the cat could get around by pawing a couple of buttons on it to turn left, right or go straight. It took a some training to get the cat to do it, but now the cat spins left and right and goes forward and purrs as if he likes it. Carlo says, "If Elvis the robocat could talk, he'd probably thank me for building him his little robot platform." You've got to see the video. Good kitty!

Hoax alert, posted 17 Aug 2005 at 16:27 UTC by steve » (Master)

Turns out this one is a hoax. Boing-Boing got caught by it too. The video was faked by the fine folks at Comedy Central.

Cats are rubbish anyway, posted 17 Aug 2005 at 16:39 UTC by dogsbody_d » (Master)

Meanwhile the world is full of wheeley-dogs, whose rear legs are paralysed or missing. Hooray for these brave canine cyborgs I say! It really is amazing how they take to their wheeled status, plus amazing how fast they can go.

What? No I don't have a URL. I also really don't know if there are any wheeley-cats.

Maybe a hoax..., posted 17 Aug 2005 at 16:42 UTC by jeffkoenig » (Master)

No, I haven't STFV, (Seen The Fine Video) but someone commented that Comedy Central was the original host of BattleBots, and this video came from a BattleBot builder. Still, several people said the video looked like a cat being driven around on an RC platform.

I was had!, posted 17 Aug 2005 at 17:02 UTC by The Swirling Brain » (Master)

Well, I was had. I could see someone doing it, though! That's funny!

How hard would it be?, posted 17 Aug 2005 at 18:08 UTC by steve » (Master)

I wonder how hard it would be to do it for reaL? Maybe someone should check for a two-legged cat at the local animal shelter and try creating the worlds first cyborg cat.