It looks like a giant mechanical spider, but with only 4 legs. It can clamber up a metal beam with it’s magnetic feet, and may be the future inspector of many places humans can’t get to, or don’t want to (like the inside of a large fuel container or the underbelly of an offshore oil rig).
The Magnapod is the result of work done at CSIRO in Australia to explore autonomous robotic applications for inspecting hazardous confined environments, buildings and other infrastructure like oil rigs. It’s not difficult to imagine these spider-like robots inspecting the hulls of ships, ballast tanks of submarines, or even the outside of a spaceship!
We dropped into CSIRO’s data and digital specialist arm, DATA61, to talk to Dr Tirtha Bandyopadhyay who is the research and project lead for these amazing climbing robots.
For our patrons we have an in-depth video interview with Dr Bandyopadhyay as he walks us through each element of the magnapod:
In-Depth Interview For Patrons
Dr Bandyopadhyay was such a great host and so giving of his time and enthusiasm – was a blast. Really appreciate being able to go out and see what DATA61 are doing.