Okay, look. In a lot of ways, we’re really not living in the world of the future. Those jet packs we were promised? They’re more like ducted fan packs. And flying cars? Really just driveable planes. Sigh.

And then there’s Stompy. A giant hexapod. That you can ride in. The world needs this.

Stompy is the brainrobot of Artisian’s Asylum, a hackerspace out in Boston. This is a serious undertaking: the guys behind it are experienced roboticists from places like Boston Dynamics, Barrett, and DEKA. The robot will be powered by a 135 horsepower engine driving a whooole bunch of hydraulics, and while it’s largely designed to stomp around in an exhibitory manner, the team has big, huge, world-changing plans. [read more..]