Imagine you just survived a massive earthquake. After regaining consciousness,you find yourself trapped under the debris of a building.  You try calling out for help, but find yourself coughing uncontrollably instead.  You look around, and see that amidst the earthquake, a gas line has begun to leak.  You don't have much time before the toxins begin to fill your systems.  Then suddenly, when all hope seems lost, you see through the dust, a pearly white spider. About the size of a baseball, it begins skittering towards you.  Believe it or not, this spider wants to help.
   
Through the magic of science, it seems that the researchers at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute have been hard at work, developing what a disaster relief robot they call "The Spider."  With eight legs to walk on, and with a small camera in its head, the Spider's main purpose is to traverse into disaster areas in order to find survivors in need of help, and then transmit the images and location info to rescue teams so they can take action.  The researchers also claim that the spider can be useful for exploring areas too deadly for humans in order to transmit any information regarding toxic leaks or other potentially hazardous problems in the area.  The best part is, because it's created using simple 3D printers, it can be manufactured in large numbers at relatively low cost. 

So, what do you think?  Do you think these little spiders exploring disaster areas can be helpful?  Is this the beginning of some sort of spider robot uprising?  Leave your thoughts in the comments and let me know what you think of our new eight-legged friend here!


Nick Lives

undeadmoose@yahoo.com

movies/music Editor