Meet Arachno-Bot! A Creepy 3D-printed Robot Spider

Everyone has their kryptonite and mine happens to be spiders. The the tenth degree of that, would be jumping spiders, and the tenth degree of that tenth degree would have to be giant jumping spiders. Sure, these are 3D-printed, but in the scene of the Jerry Bruckheimer movie now playing in my head… I’m trapped in a lab under my desk, barely able to see, in the distance a shadow eerily is jumping towards me. My watered eyes burning and filled with toxic fumes squint to reveal an 8-legged giant jumping spider coming to my aid. The camera tightens in on my face as my expression changes from horror to terror… and then I basically stroke out. End scene. All I can say is that any place that might need the services of Mega Charlotte give their employees fair warning. Cool, yes… but the creepy factor gets a Hell to the Yes!

Creepy 3D-printed robot spider is here to help

by Chelsea Whyte, contributor

The day has come when giant spider robots do our bidding. Artificial ones, anyhow.

This creepy crawly mobile robot is a prototype designed as an agile emergency response tool, perfect for entering toxic areas with cameras and measurement equipment after chemical accidents.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation in Stuttgart, Germany, used a natural spider as the model for their robot, which they created through 3D printing.

This printing process lays down thin layers of a fine powder, which are then melted in place with a laser beam. Layer by layer, the lightweight robot comes to life, with pneumatic leg joints that bend like the crinkled elbow in a drinking straw.

Mimicking the movement of a real spider, this arachno-bot keeps four legs on the ground at all times while the other four manoeuvre over hazardous terrain. And, when fitted with a compressor pump and fluid that fills its eight legs, pressurized liquid can even make the spider jump.

The creators of the robot say it is cheap enough to produce that it can be discarded after just one use – a handy feature considering the potential for use in toxic terrains.

via Short Sharp Science: Creepy 3D-printed robot spider is here to help.