Roller-Walker, a cool robot developed by Hirose-Fukushima Robotics, is capable of creepy insect walking. However, when the right surface presents itself, Roller-Walker performs a pedal extremity transformation - and starts roller skating.
(Roller-Walker Robot video)
It seems to me that this bot has an obvious precursor in science fiction - the spider robots from Ghost in the Shell. The printed version appeared in 1991; the movie appeared in 1995. See how the Tachikoma robots move in a similar manner in the video below.
Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'' - Isaac Asimov (1940)
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Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?''
Stratospheric Solar Geoengineering From Harvard
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'