BBC documentary foiled by polar bears

It sounds like a great idea at first—"We'll make robot cameras and disguise them as icebergs and piles of snow, so we can film polar bears in the wild without their noticing!"

But, unfortunately for the robot cameras, polar bears are not so easily fooled ...

Via BotJunkie and Christopher Mims

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

Maggie goes places and talks to people. Find out where she'll be speaking next.

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Robotech_Master

I’m surprised nobody mentioned that the narration is by none other than the tenth Doctor, David Tennant. (At least, that sure sounded like his natural Scottish speaking voice, from what I’ve heard of it from Doctor Who audiobooks.)
- Anonymous
  
  I’m surprised that only you have picked up on it as well– but I confirm– that voice can only be David Tennant.
Anonymous

The cams move by themselves, so the bear probably thinks they’re alive. And therefore edible. He even licks his chops when he cracks open the spherical one (at about 1:15)
He probably thinks it’s great big mollusc with a hard shell.
braininavat

A few more PCBs probably won’t hurt the Arctic environment very much more…
cataphract

This cartoon comes to mind.
Alan

Why were there robotic cameras when there were human cameramen nearby? I’m very confused.

I’m not surprised at all the bears tore into these. If you were bored and had nothing to do, and a chunk of ice was not behaving in the normal manner of a chunk of ice, you’d be very interested in that chunk of ice.
- RadioSilence
  
  “Why were there robotic cameras when there were human cameramen nearby? I’m very confused.”
  
  If i were being overly cynical i might say that the spycams are a gimmick, and a fairly successful one as the video seems to have gone viral and the documentary has been popular. i know i only watched it after seeing the youtube video.
  
  or, if i were being more reasonable, i could say that the spycams are a good way of getting unique, close-up shots of polar bears in their natural habitat. And they lasted a long time before eventually being destroyed by their subjects; the film follows the bears from spring, when they emerge from hibernation, to autumn, when the sea-ice returns to Svalbard.
  But while the whole documentary could have been filmed by the spycams, it would have been hard to watch; establishing shots and long shots of them walking or swimming would have been impossible. The BBC has at its disposal one of the worlds finest wildlife film units (at BBC Bristol) so it wasn’t hard to position some experienced cameramen with super-long lenses on a hillside a mile or so away.
  And of course, without the real-live cameramen they wouldn’t have got such good shots of the bears destroying the spycams :)
- turn_self_off
  
  get close to a Horny young male or a mum, you nuts?
- Teller
  
  My thoughts exactly. “Without them noticing” that a camera crew is filming their encounter with motorized plastic lumps. Still, cute.
cyberscythe

GLADoS is going to be pissed when she finds out what happened to her children.
Anonymous

So it looks like every year from now on the BBC license fee will be spent on yet another take on the ‘robot camera’ theme. Of course with nice, individualising names for each camera, and the footage condensed into the usual cutesy moments. Uninformative trash.
- RadioSilence
  
  @Anon #33
  
  well i enjoyed it and considered it money well spent.
  
  just think of it like this: all of your license fee goes toward making stuff you like, and all of mine goes toward making stuff that i like. that way everyone’s happy :)
- Anonymous
  
  33 – BBC documentaries like this one sell to worldwide broadcasters for vast sums of money. It was the license fee that helped set this up, but I suspect that this program will generate so much revenue it will more than pay for itself. Certainly not a waste of license fee at all.
- Matt J
  
  You think this is a loss making enterprise? Nature documentaries are one of the BBC’s main money spinners. They are world renowned, and are sold on to TV networks in other countries. I guarantee they’ll make money on this one.
Anonymous

I always wonder what polar bears do for amusement. I mean… thereÂ´s NOTHING there! They must have been so happy to have found some “toys”. :)
Rich Keller

:28 – Thirty chest compressions followed by two rescue breaths until someone arrives with the AED.
jimh

lol, this made my day.
jphilby

I liked the second part, after the first robot ran away. As the second robot swam up the look in the bear’s eye as he got up was *exactly* like “Aww shit… not -again-.”

Yogi Bear is smarter than the average bear,
Yogi Bear is always in the ranger’s hair.
At a picnic table you will find him there
Stuffing down more goodies than the average bear.
Avram / Moderator

I just got a science-fictional thrill from the fact that we’re exploring the arctic with a robot camera that can deploy smaller robot cameras.
social_maladroit

Snowcam… Squish!
Snowballcam… Squish!
Icebergcam… Squish!

Blizzardcam… ran away.

LOL.
johninsapporo

There was nothing unfortunate about it. It was a wonderful documentary.
Talia

I didn’t realize polar bears were just overgrown cats. :p
- Lobster
  
  Actually, cats are just miniature polar bears. :D
David Carroll

I know a four year old that would destroy those puppies in half that time.
- Anonymous
  
  A four year old what? ;-)
Crashproof

Vital testing apparatus destroyed.
Jennypen

Foiled!? It was hardly foiled, it was spectacular!
dross1260

MAybe they’re used to finding the creamy filling?
phillamb168

http://bennyhillifier.com/?id=tT0O2RyxnkY at 0:49. Yes!
Anonymous

Watching that bear chase that camera sled hauling ass was better than any tired old documentary they were planning on making. Maybe they should make a new documentary “Wild animals playing with toys”

And that cub, cuteness overload.
- 3d bomb
  
  That was the best moment. Deploying the ball cam as bait was just icing on the cake too.
  
  I’m convinced we need moments like this on camera to keep the bears plight in the public eye. There should be some linkage to donate to places that are aiming to help the bears along with it. A missed opportunity there.
Anonymous

Skinny-looking polar bears. How about a robot to bring them some chinese takeout?
bardfinn

… Polar bears can smell seals through over a foot of snow from over half a mile away … and can hear them through 10 inches of ice … and see humans as bipedal seals with spice and garnish … This result should not have been unanticipated.
- turn_self_off
  
  i think most predators do not consider humans food unless they are starved. Usually they approach with a mix of fear and curiosity, and will attack or run depending on how likely they think the human(s) are a threat they can handle or not.
  - bkad
    
    i think most predators do not consider humans food unless they are starved. Usually they approach with a mix of fear and curiosity, and will attack or run depending on how likely they think the human(s) are a threat they can handle or not.
    
    As a human, I have a similar response to predators myself (that is, I don’t consider them to be food items, and I curious but very wary when I’ve seen them in the wild).
    - Anonymous
      
      I’ve read that the Inuit strategy for hunting a polar bear is to set off as a group, have one guy fall behind while the main group stalks the bear that will stalk the bait. I can’t find a reference, but I do think that polar bears are inclined to view anything that moves as a possible food source.
Anonymous

I love seeing things like this. Nature wins.
techdeviant

The round snowball cam looks just like the plastic play balls they give to bears in zoos. Did they not think that wild polar bears would do the same thing as their zoo counterparts? In any case, it makes for a fun video!
Xenu

It’s like Grizzly Man for robots!
Phikus

Polar Bears 2
Humans 0
Anonymous

I don’t think the documentary was foiled as they were only destroyed at the end of filming. Not ideal but not such a foul up as the headline tries to make out. The documentary was brill from the bits I saw & don’t think some of the shots would have been possible any other way.
But what would the world be without sensationalised headlines.
whatisart

Maggie, what did you think of the full documentary? I saw it last night and, as others have said, it was stunning. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wylng
ZippySpincycle

Was “Blizzard Cam” the only survivor? Reminded me of the mouse robot encountering Chewbacca on the Death Star…