An inventor in the secluded backwoods of Vermont has made it his mission to build a giant spider robot. Somebody call Will Smith.
Inventor and artist Jaimie Mantzel, holed up in his shack in the backwoods of Vermont, has spent the last 3 years piecing together a giant 6-legged robot capable of carrying a pilot. He claims it will be used to help him haul lumber up to his secret lab, but I think his plans have more of a “world domination” vibe to them.
The project started with a prototype spider, about the size of his hand, which walked and turned perfectly. After that, it was just a matter of making the same thing, just much bigger. Something he could successfully ride around in.
The entirety of the aptly-named “Giant Robot Project” has been documented and YouTubed extensively, and Mantzel’s channel has garnered over 2 million views since the beginning of the project.
He says that he’s about 80% finished with his giant spiderbot, and that a month or two more of work should see it finished. He’s not going to test-drive it, though, until he’s absolutely sure it won’t engulf him in a fireball of horrible spider-shaped wreckage “Honestly, there’s no way in hell I’m getting on that thing till it’s well tested,” he said. “It’s kinda scary.”
The spider isn’t the first thing he’s built; before he could even start the giant robot, he had to build a 4-story dome house with a trampoline floor, a lumber mill, and a workshop, all from scratch in the middle of the Vermont woods. The area is so remote, in fact, that he had to build a road to it himself.
Source: Wired
