<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Man... this would be the realization of Gui's dream when he started the Asylum over 2 years ago... </div><div>see Slide 68 of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/artisansasylum/4571117604/in/set-72157623850250683/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/artisansasylum/4571117604/in/set-72157623850250683/</a></div><div><br></div><div>he is getting some help from some of the other roboticists at AA... </div><div><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/06/wifi-extending-robot-is-built-like-a-tank-we-talk-to-the-peop/">http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/06/wifi-extending-robot-is-built-like-a-tank-we-talk-to-the-peop/</a></div><br><div><div>On Aug 8, 2012, at 6:58 PM, Tom Metro wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>I didn't know this was funded through Kickstarter. (The project has been<br>mentioned on the list before.)<br> -Tom<br><br>Why There's A Rideable 4,000-Pound Spider-Robot Being Built In Somerville<br><a href="http://www.wbur.org/2012/08/08/robotic-hexapod?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wbur_news%2Fboston+%28News%3A+Boston%29">http://www.wbur.org/2012/08/08/robotic-hexapod?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wbur_news%2Fboston+%28News%3A+Boston%29</a><br><br> ...the trio co-founded Project Hexapod, which is now raising money on<br> their Kickstarter page. Based out of a workspace in Somerville called<br> Artisan's Asylum (of which Gui is the president of), Project Hexapod<br> is an online blog that is documenting the progress of the Robotics<br> Intensive: Rideable Hexapod class taught at the Asylum.<br> [...]<br> ...it's also supposed to weigh 4,000 pounds and measures about 18-feet<br> wide and 10-feet tall. In other words, a behemoth of a machine.<br><br> How much of a behemoth? Here's an idea: the propane-fired engine that<br> powers the hexapod was ripped out of the hydraulic unit of a<br> 10,000-pound forklift. Each leg weighs about 200 pounds without the<br> actuators. And just the small chunk of metal that links the body to<br> the thigh weighs 70 pounds.<br> [...]<br> So why build it?<br> [...]<br> "We wanted it to be a thing that walks in parades and makes little<br> kids smile," Cavalcanti said. "[It] has no other purpose than to<br> really be cool, to show off a lot of really awesome tech, and inspire<br> people. That's its job."<br> [...]<br> Having six legs also means it can climb over things, and that's where<br> the team sees some real practical use. Take a situation like the 2010<br> earthquake in Haiti. ... With Stompy, "you have a technology that<br> allows you to walk over this rubble in the first place, it's all of a<br> sudden an answer of how to get anything in or out of a disaster-hit<br> area," Cavalcanti said.<br> [...]<br> Stompy is expected to be built fully this winter, and the first demo<br> will take place in April.<br><br>Kickstarter page:<br>http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/projecthexapod/stompy-the-giant-rideable-walking-robot-0<br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Hardwarehacking mailing list<br>Hardwarehacking@blu.org<br>http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking<br></div></blockquote></div><br></body></html>