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metronews.ca WEEKEND, April 19-21, 2013
‘Krrrpow, krr-cchsshhh’: Meet Prosthesis, a three-tonne robotic beast with four legs That’s my baby. Engineer aims to raise $250,000 to finish building electricitypowered creation Kate Webb
kate.webb@metronews.ca
Jonathan Tippett is looking for some walking-around money. Tippett, a mechanical engineer, is building a threetonne, five-metre-tall electricpowered walking machine named Prosthesis: The AntiRobot at Vancouver’s eatART Laboratory. He’s trying to raise $250,000 in cash and parts so he can complete it by August of next year. So far, one hydraulic leg is built and will be demonstrated
Eye the robot
• Early-bird tickets to Vancouver Mini Maker Faire, where the first leg of Prosthesis will be demonstrated, are available until April 30 at vancouverminimakerfaire.brownpapertickets. com. • To watch a simulation of the robot walking, go to metronews.ca and search “Prosthesis.”
at the annual Vancouver Mini Maker Faire on June 1 and 2 at the Pacific National Exhibition. “Your body has four limbs, so I wanted to make a fourlimbed machine that could be controlled with one of each of your limbs,” said Tippett, who
has been working on the project for the past six years with a core team of 10 volunteers. “I’ve fantasized for hours on end about how it’s going to feel.” A button that sets off an alarm warning will activate the robot, lowering a set of stairs to the ground. The brave pilot will then be able to step into the leg interface, hoisting herself onto a unicycle seat and strapping herself into a comfy all-encompassing harness. Her hands will slide into a pair of gauntlet fixtures, triggering the inflation of a series of air bladders that grip her back tightly and secure her body to the controls. Then — as Tippett envisions it — it’ll be all systems go. “You’ll just extend your legs and this 3,000-kilogram machine will just go ‘krrrpow’
Prosthesis will stand five metres tall when completed. Contributed/Jonathan Tippett
up to two storeys tall, and then you throw your arms forward and these 500-kilogram steel legs will just go ‘krr-cchsshhh’ when you hit the ground,” he
said. “Then you swing your legs through and then you’re running at 10 to 15 kilometres an hour.” With a mischievous giggle,
he added that the machine will max out at an “absolutely horrifying” top speed of 25 kilometres per hour — and it will even be able to jump.
Fan Expo stars rap on bad reviews and the need for pretty feet This weekend’s Fan Expo convention is bound to satisfy your inner (and outer) geek. Metro chatted with some of the event’s biggest names. To read the full interviews and an additional interview with Battlestar Galactica’s Michael Hogan, go to metronews.ca/vancouver. David Prowse, best known as the body of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars Trilogy
David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars movies, is among the top draws at this weekend’s Fan Expo. Mario Tama/Getty Images
very strange that the villain should attract this fantastic following.” On appearing at sci-fi conventions: “It starts off with me talking about Star Wars and Vader, but then they realize I had a very interesting career before Darth Vader and since Darth Vader. I think then they find I’m a much more interesting character.”
On why he switched from On Star Wars fans: “I have bodybuilding to acting in a very loving relationship the 1960s: “I was six foot [with fans]. I don’t know seven and weighing about why it is, because Vader, he’s 260 pounds, and the chief the big villain of the film, of the [Mr. Universe Contest] and the fans have just taken judges came up to me and T:10” to him. To me, it seems said, ‘David, I’ve got some
bad news for you. You will never, ever win at this competition.... You’ve got ugly feet.’ I can’t do anything about my feet!” Cassandra Peterson, known as Elvira
best
On her debut film, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, becoming a cult classic after being panned: “The hipster publications loved it, like Village Voice and L.A. Weekly, but the straight publications hated it. They would say things like, ‘This woman doesn’t know how to act.’ I was playing a character! It would be like saying Pee-wee Herman doesn’t know how to pick clothes.”
Learn more
• Fan Expo takes place Saturday and Sunday at the Vancouver Convention Centre. • For more information, including ticket info, go to fanexpovancouver.com.
On losing the 1987 Razzie Award for worst actress to Liza Minnelli: “I actually take it as a compliment! I was flattered that an Academy Award winner beat me out for my Razzie Award. To me, that was like an honour.” Liam Britten/For Metro
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