The Legend of Robosaurus: From Steel Titan to Auction Star

GOING ONCE... GOING TWICE... GONE!
On January 19, 2008, after 18 thrilling years of jaw-dropping performances, Robosaurus was sold at the legendary Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. One of the most iconic mechanical beasts to ever grace the arena, this fire-breathing, car-crunching, 58,000-pound monster found a new home—but its legacy? That will never be sold.

Two of Doug's USA Patents are for his Robosaurus invention. He founded Monster Robots, Inc. and was involved in finding all investors and product sponsors. Doug did all the structural design and engineering (loads determinations, weights and stress analysis). Along with all the electronic, hydraulic and control system packaging and functional testing. The creature, which was built in 1.5 years, has been doing shows since 1990. The most recent NDT (non-destructive-testing) inspection of all welded joints was performed at 250,000 miles and showed no weld fatigue degradation.

One man sitting up in the creature's cranium controls Robosaurus. Doug had to develop an innovative wearable control system to enable a single pilot to simultaneously control 18 proportional hydraulic motions. Each hydraulic valve is controlled by a P-Q Control's Inc. of Bristol, Connecticut computer valve board that converts the simple on-off electrical switch signals given by the pilot in the head into proper proportional fluid flow rates to the various hydraulic cylinders and pumps.

Much of the Robosaurus structural design involved tradeoffs to enable transformation to a legal trailer for hauling the 58,000-pound, fire breathing, beast from show to show. Robosaurus meets highway size and weight requirements for all 50 States.