The 3000 lb fire-breathing scorpion that's roaming Burning Man

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The 3000 lb fire-breathing scorpion that’s roaming Burning Man

Out in the middle of bumfuck, Nevada, far away from civilization, Burning Man is currently happening. And it’s not just a giant hippie fest, where people are roaming around the desert in some aimless drug stupor. It’s a festival of creation and art and imagination, and every year, some pretty interesting things bloom in the Nevada desert.

Like say, a 3000 pound fire breathing scorpion vehicle, with lights and moving legs and a moving tail. It was buit by Kirk Jellum, a former aerospace engineer who quit his job as a rocket scientist to build awesome shit for Burning Man full-time.

You need an engineer to complete a project this complex—each leg moves individually, the arms move independently, the claws contract, and the tail can bend and flex. There are over 20 points of articulation, which can be operated from a series of levers on the deck.

To create the fire effects in the tail (each of which has an independent ignition), a computer and a series of Arduino controls run programs to fire off the various torches in rapid succession and in varying patterns. The Scorpion also has a pretty decent stereo system, and it looks amazing at night.

The vehicle is built on top of a 28 foot long 1993 International boom truck. It’s contains over 3,000 pounds of steel. It took seven months, 500 design hours and 3,500 fabrication hours to complete. Now, it roams the desert, looking for revelers to amaze and other art cars to battle.