OK, Now this robot spider has me officially creeped out!

[LongTomH]

Talk about yer creepy robots; this German-made robot spider is an arachnophobe's nightmare! It even moves like like a real spider, keeping 4 legs on the ground while the other 4 ready for the next step. It can even j-j-jump!



This bionic nightmare has a serious purpose: Exploring dangerous environments like chemical spills or reactor accidents with cameras and instruments. The spider shape was chosen for its agility.

This prototype was designed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA. It's made using a form of 3-d printing called selective laser sintering (SLS); thin layers of a polyamide plastic powder are applied and fused into place with laser beams. The engineers at IPA are confident their system will allow the production robots to be made very cheaply.

"We can use SLS to produce one or even several legs in a single operation; this minimizes assembly effort, saves materials and reduces the time it takes to build a robot. With the modular approach, individual parts can be quickly swapped as well.

"Our robot is so cheap to produce that it can be discarded after being used just once - like a disposable rubber glove," Becker points out.

I can see how useful a robot like this can be for instances like the Fukushima reactor accident; but, it's still creepy.
:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

[formercia]

1. Reminds me of Minority Report.

Just give it a taser unit

[hootinholler]

7. Reminds me of the robot in Farenheight 451 n/t

[RKP5637]

2. This reminds me of The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells. Imagine a variation of

these unleashed on citizens to control them, spider cops.

[Lionessa]

3. Creepy, and just like some main out of hand "characters" in the movie Runaway with Tom Selleck.

[ZombieHorde]

4. It is more of a daddy long leg than it is a spider in my opinion.

Spiders have segmented body: head and butt.

[Mnemosyne]

5. 20cm legs, nearly eight inches. Creepy for sure. n/t

[Leftist Agitator]

6. So how long until they turn into these?

[krispos42]

8. Run, Sarah Conner, run!

Yeah, these will be the things that finally topple the oligarchy. 8-legged terminators. 'Cuz the 2-legged ones aren't doing it!

[pokerfan]

9. Reminds me of the sentinels in the Matrix

[Bosonic]

10. Reminds me more of a crab really

Still not as creepy as this ten-legged monstrosity though (lots of v.long legs==guaranteed creepy)


Japanese Spider Crab

[eppur_se_muova]

11. You might enjoy this ... :^D

http://io9.com/5859804/watch-a-giant-robotic-snake-chase-a-man-piloting-a-spider-mecha