The hexapod robot CNC router is a great combination of computer numerical control device and a six-legged robot. Created as a DIY prototype by Matt Denton, it can crawl onto a suitable medium and begin cutting a three-dimensional object.
Originally designed with a pen attachment for drawing, Denton substituted a cutting tool able to mill 3D surfaces in polystyrene. Each foot is ball joint-mounted to ease terrain adaptation, which means that it could conceivably do more than bas-relief carvings.
Take a look at this hexapod robot cnc router video.
(Hexapod CNC robot router)
Frankly, this robot looks a little bit like Ray Bradbury's Mechanical Hound got tired of chasing rats in the firehouse, and started a new hobby.
A better reference might be the Biltong life forms from Philip K. Dick's Pay for the Printer. For more than a century, they had kept a war-ravaged humanity supplied with consumer goods. Show them an original object, even something as complex as a car, and they would print out a new one. But now, they were wearing out.
Fergesson slid in behind the wheel and harshly slammed the door. The door didn't close properly. The metal was sprung - or perhaps it was misshapen. His hackles rose. Here, too, was an imperfect print - a trifle, a microscopic element botched in the printing. Even his sleek, luxurious Buick was puddinged...
(Read more about Dick's Biltong life forms)
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