[HH] article on local Hexapod robot project

[Tom Metro]

I didn't know this was funded through Kickstarter. (The project has been
mentioned on the list before.)
 -Tom

Why There's A Rideable 4,000-Pound Spider-Robot Being Built In Somerville
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

  ...the trio co-founded Project Hexapod, which is now raising money on
  their Kickstarter page. Based out of a workspace in Somerville called
  Artisan's Asylum (of which Gui is the president of), Project Hexapod
  is an online blog that is documenting the progress of the Robotics
  Intensive: Rideable Hexapod class taught at the Asylum.
  [...]
  ...it's also supposed to weigh 4,000 pounds and measures about 18-feet
  wide and 10-feet tall. In other words, a behemoth of a machine.

  How much of a behemoth? Here's an idea: the propane-fired engine that
  powers the hexapod was ripped out of the hydraulic unit of a
  10,000-pound forklift. Each leg weighs about 200 pounds without the
  actuators. And just the small chunk of metal that links the body to
  the thigh weighs 70 pounds.
  [...]
  So why build it?
  [...]
  "We wanted it to be a thing that walks in parades and makes little
  kids smile," Cavalcanti said. "[It] has no other purpose than to
  really be cool, to show off a lot of really awesome tech, and inspire
  people. That's its job."
  [...]
  Having six legs also means it can climb over things, and that's where
  the team sees some real practical use. Take a situation like the 2010
  earthquake in Haiti. ... With Stompy, "you have a technology that
  allows you to walk over this rubble in the first place, it's all of a
  sudden an answer of how to get anything in or out of a disaster-hit
  area," Cavalcanti said.
  [...]
  Stompy is expected to be built fully this winter, and the first demo
  will take place in April.

Kickstarter page:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/projecthexapod/stompy-the-giant-rideable-walking-robot-0