Mondo Spider robot walks, consternates onlookers

Joining the Land Walker, Robotic Giraffe, and the Anchorage Mecha as some of the most exotic, over-the-top ways to get from point A to point B is the Mondo Spider, which required a team of skilled engineers and "thousands of hours" in order to assemble. The creators seemingly spared no cost on the mechanical arachnid, as it boasts an impressive array of gears, linkages, and sheer quantities of metal to bring it all together. The man-driven beast cranks up like your average vehicle, but slipping it into first gear gets the spidey's legs a-crankin', and before long, it actually gets up to a respectable pace and commands respects from anyone close to its path. It may not shoot rubber balls or pass a state inspection, but we can't imagine too many vehicles standing up to this intimidating monster. Catch the videotaped demonstration in the links below.

[Via Wired]

[Jack @ May 1st 2007 8:28AM]

Wasn't he a bad guy in Doom? :p

[kingofwale @ May 1st 2007 8:46AM]

that look EXACTLY like the one in Wild Wild West

[Ben @ May 1st 2007 9:20AM]

Wow much bigger looking then I thought. That thing is HUGE

[NHAnimator @ May 1st 2007 9:33AM]

Can it retrieve a beer from the fridge for me? If not, then inventors need to refocus their priorities.

[SuperChuck @ May 1st 2007 9:42AM]

That's no spiderbot. The legs are mounted on the front and back, it's just a walker with 4 legs instead of 2.

[Dan @ May 1st 2007 10:23AM]

Wake me when they get into 1. flexible carbon fiber, 2. photonic sensors and switching and 3. some kind of new fluid that expands mightily under specific magnetic influence, THEN we'll start see a decent spider bot.

[MasterCKO @ May 1st 2007 11:34AM]

You must not have gone to the website or seen the video they have there. there are clearly eight legs on this robot. 4 on the front and 4 on the back. Making it a spider bot.

A RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME spider bot.

On topic, the leg action is impressive. And frightening. The way they snap down like that is nuts. All they need to add is a pneumatic Cephalothorax section that moves up and down. If they can have the spider maintain its balance with that extra weight (maybe put a counterbalance weight in the front) these guys would be my personal heroes (hell, they already are).

[Bubonik @ May 1st 2007 10:08PM]

Saw that thing in person at Burning Man last year. Its amazing in real life, and it really is huge. Its also rather colorful at night, which they didnt depict here.

[aeo @ May 1st 2007 11:17AM]

This is kind of old news from August of 2006. Cool build though.

[narco @ May 1st 2007 11:22AM]

beware of the Replicators.

Fishes,
narco.

[SuperChuck @ May 1st 2007 11:43AM]

There are clearly 8 legs, yes. If you duct tape 2 dogs together, it would have 8 legs, as well, but would not be a spiderdog.

Spiders have their legs on the sides. The video clearly shows that this 'bot has 4 legs in front and 4 legs in back.

It's just a 4-legged walker with 2 sets of synchronized legs. If you took away the redundant pairs, you'd have the same motion.

[MasterCKO @ May 1st 2007 1:58PM]

@SuperChuck, seriously? I think that spider-bot is a handy name that immediately evokes an image of what it is and how it moves that is somewhat accurate. Much less cumbersome than the technically correct "4-legged walker with 2 sets of synchronized legs"-bot or even octopod-bot.

[SuperChuck @ May 1st 2007 2:13PM]

I just don't see the point of putting 8 legs on the thing if you don't gain any advantage over 4. He might as well have saved some cash and just made 4 of the legs non-functional.

This is a closer example to a spiderbot: http://robotstore.com/store/product.asp?pid=724&catid=1527
It only has 6 legs, but has most of the movement dynamic of a spider.

[murray @ May 1st 2007 12:54PM]

Anatomically correct or not, it's still orders of magnitude more impressive than anything I will ever do. Kudos.

[blackfeather @ May 1st 2007 1:15PM]

But can it chase Tom Selleck up a building and inject him with a neurotoxin?

[Seventhexile @ May 1st 2007 2:58PM]

its alright..

but where are the built in rocket launchers and submachine guns..

?

[Bubonik @ May 1st 2007 5:18PM]

This gentlemen is ART. It goes beyond the essence of need and practicality. The spider at Burning Man 2006: http://images.burningman.com/index.cgi?image=27005&results=27005&ord=1/1&skip=0&q_photog=&q_category=&q_keyword=spider&q_year=2006 . The giraffe at Burning Man 2006: http://images.burningman.com/index.cgi?image=28786&results=28786,28785,28438,26668&ord=1/4&skip=0&q_photog=&q_category=&q_keyword=giraffe&q_year=2006

[jtippett @ Jun 8th 2007 3:12AM]

It's nice to see that The Spider is bringing some joy and inspiration to some. Armchair critics are invited to build their own 1200lb, giant, ridable walking machine and then they can call it whatever they want.

8 legs were necessary because 4 would require balance and 6 would be lame.

Check out www.mondospider.com for more details and lots of video.

Sincerely,
JonathanT.
The Leg Man

[MasterCKO @ Jul 11th 2007 6:49AM]

way to be, Jonathan! When's that cephalothorax coming?? ;-) Seriously tho, bravo to the whole team! Wish I could have seen it live at Burning Man! I was hoping you'd be out at the Maker Faire, but I didn't see you.