How to Spot a Psychopath

I-Wei Huang of Crabfu has a link from his SteamWorks page to his non-steam-powered remote-controlled contraptions. That link is called "Steamless Crap".

He's now given that section of the site a more dignified name, Crabfu MotionWorks. In which the latest creation is...

...the R/C Tortoise.

(Once again, the cat is unmoved. If something in the Crabfu back yard doesn't blow hot steam and shriek like a banshee, it's not worth worrying about.)

Like its ancestors the Swashbots, the Tortoise is a creature that converts movement of normal R/C servos more or less directly into leg movements. It's operated as an animatronic puppet, with no automation beyond servo mixing on the controller.

But the Tortoise is a quadruped rather than a triped - with legs that look as if they're made from the same low-temperature polycaprolactone thermoplastic as Swashbot 3's disturbingly organic parts - and so it can walk much better.

The Tortoise still turns with a Swashbot-esque wiggle, but when it's going forward or backward it's much more efficient. And it's all based on only three servos - each pair of legs is one arch-shaped piece of plastic. (There are actually four servos in the Tortoise, but one just moves the head.)

The Tortoise's clumsy high-stepping gait makes it look, to me, like a creature that's going to be very very large when it grows up.

(Via.)