Check out this video clip of the Metallic Vaio 2012, which was built to compete in the 6th KONDO LAND Multi-Legged Robot Obstacle Race, where it managed to secure second place!
It seems not only do the Japanese enjoy building weird, wacky, bizzaro robots that don’t seem to have an obvious function, they also like inventing crazy races and competitions for them to take part in!
The Metallic Vaio uses its caterpillar-like tentacle legs to flip, roll, rotate, jiggle, shuffle and do the hokey-cokey. The Vaio’s innovative legs give it 18 degrees of freedom, which is quite impressive when you consider that the average robot leg only has around 6 degrees.
I spent the majority of the video-clip wondering what sort of practical function the Metallic Vaio could possibly offer the world and I think it would be pretty cool if they covered it soft-toy fur and glued a couple of cartoon eyes to its head. Then it could be some kind of awesome free-roaming pet tamagotchi type thing!
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