Project Grizzly

An article in EJ tipped me off that two of Troy Hurtubise's Ursus bear suits were up for auction on eBay. Luckily, the reserve wasn't met--which means they may still picked up by Canadian museum or collector.

You might remember Troy Hurtubise (and his suits) from the NFB documentary Project Grizzly. Troy's dream was to meet a grizzly bear face to snout, and he built several versions of the armoured Ursus suits to make it happen. Troy would rigorously and personally test each suit. In one part of Project Grizzly, Troy puts on the suit and has a buddy hit him with his truck at 30 mph (top running speed for a grizzly) while another friend videotapes it. Project Troy, a website dedicated to Hurtubise and his obsession, has other testing videos. Don't miss the axe test (mpeg, 1.8 MB).

I love this description of the suits:

Canadian inventor Troy Hurtubise spent 10 years perfecting the Ursus Mark-VI suit of armour, which is made of chain mail, galvanized steel, titanium, high-tech plastic, and liquid rubber.

Ursus Mark-VII eliminates the chain mail and is made from stainless steel, aluminum and cast titanium.

It also features a built-in video screen, a cooling system, pressure-bearing titanium struts, protective airbags, shock absorbers, a robotic third arm, built-in regular arms and swivel shoulders.

Really, what could be more Canadian than a robotic third arm? Someone should start a collection to keep these suits at home.