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Wheelbot — Description
Just when you think you can outrun this creepy little spider bot, it pulls a Transformer, becomes a wheel and rolls swiftly in your direction.

Yes, that sounds like bad sci-fi. But this is the Festo Bionic WheelBot.

On its website, Festo claims its mission is "to motivate, inspire and enthuse and to kick-start innovation." But why do innovative minds want to frighten us so?

The creepy-crawlie, says Festo, is a robotic re-creation of the flic-flac spider, which really does bound along as if it's the happiest spider on Earth. (See the video below.)

This Bionic WheelBot, which debuts at the Hannover Messe industrial-technology fair in April, just doesn't look like it's full of good cheer.