Arachno-Bot Dangles Like Spiderman, Climbs All Over the Place

Ever wanted to see a big, huge spider just crawl over the wall of your room and drop and swing from its webbing?

Neither do we, but we might be changing our tune now that we saw what the Asterisk can do.

The fact that, rather than an oversized beast, this is 'just' a robot, probably helps with removing the phobia factor.

Basically, the team from Osaka University (who've been working on the thing since 2005) taught the Asterisk spider robot how to climb over objects and crawl through narrow passages, as well as drop and swing from webs like a certain comic book hero.

Interestingly enough, the scary spider was envisioned for a similar role as Spidey's: to save people, especially after disasters like the big earthquake and tsunami back in March, as well as the nuclear meltdown from the Fukushima plant.