Viral goat-headed robot Three-Halves aims to help save lives in wildfire zones

Digital Media Manager

A 7-foot-tall centaur-style robot with a goat head named “Three-Halves” might one day wield a chainsaw in the woods near you. But there’s no need to be afraid.

An online frenzy about the project this week was a big surprise to its inventor, Beau, an engineer by day who works on the centaur at night out of his garage in Auburn, California, which is around 33 miles from Sacramento in Northern California.

Beau said that he created the Satyress website nearly two years ago to document and protect his design. He would usually get about 30 hits a day. This week, posts about Three-Halves caught fire on X, and he needed to increase his server bandwidth to accommodate millions of new views.

Three-Halves aims to save lives in wildfire zones and disaster sites by helping its operators complete dangerous tasks via a gaming controller. The robot features four legs for stability, a horse-like body, and a goat-like head with horns. It is equipped with two arms capable of using tools, including a chainsaw.

Beau said that having four legs “is a nice way to be pretty stable. It’s a lot easier to make it walk compared to a biped because it’s just more dynamically stable. It’s quite light if you compare it to something like wheels or tracks.”

Living in an area that is prone to wildfires led Beau to consider making a robot that could help with cutting dead trees, clearing debris away from powerlines, and avoiding injuries from falling branches.

“The fun part is doing the work,” he said of forestry. “The not fun part is getting hurt.”

While some might think his company Satyress is a shadowy startup, Beau said he’s been working on the project with friends and without investors.

Another misconception is that the robot would use AI or be controlled from a far distance. That’s not the case.

Beau is building the robot as a proof of concept, and said he “has a ways to go” as part of a “slow, careful process.”

He hopes to get the robot standing by the end of the year.

Satyress’ website includes instructions on how to kill the robot with a gun or knife, which has led to much speculation about whether the robot is real, the stuff of nightmares, or a joke.

It’s fun to talk about the robot, Beau said.

“Humanoid robots are supposed to be exciting,” he said. “Hopefully this robot will be for some people, and I’m sure it won’t be for everyone.”

He sees parallels between robotics work by hobbyists and hot rods.

“Twenty years ago you might have been building a race car in your garage. Twenty years from now you might be building a humanoid robot in your garage,” he said.