Original story by Olivia Solon, WIRED.co.uk
A two-metre high, six-legged crab-shaped robot called Crabster CR200, has been put to the test under water near Geoje City in South Korea.
Crabster CR200 (Crabster is half-crab, half-lobster) has been developed by the Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) as an alternative to propeller-driven remotely-operated vehicles, which don’t cope well with strong tidal currents.
The Crabster is designed to be lowered to 200 metres below the surface by a crane. Once on the sea floor, our six-legged friend can move across the floor by bending its 30 joints. The legs serve to provide stability and don’t kick up so much sea floor goo as propellers. The dexterous robot’s two front legs have manipulators (read: claws) that can grab objects and store them away in compartments in its body.
Crabster is loaded with a load of optical cameras, sonar and an acoustic Doppler current profiler to allow it to explore shipwrecks in strong currents (as fast as 1.5 metres per second). To steady itself, Crabster can manoeuvre its limbs to reduce drag depending on the direction and intensity of the current.
Before you start campaigning against the Inevitable Crab Robot Uprising, it’s worth noting that four people are needed to operate Crabster — one controls walking and posture, another the claws, cameras and lights, then there’s a navigator and a sonar engineer.
Either way, all we can think about is this:
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