If you'd been to the European Land Robot Trials (ELROB) in Germany, you'd probably not have seen Ebeneezer Von Clutch looking for his Black Power Gem. You may, however, have seen the Spybot 4WD from MacroSwiss. It weighs just 13 lbs, but it can cross a potato field faster than you can say "Pol Pot, hot or not?" It can also navigate waterways, descend stairs, climb 45-degree slopes, and be tossed (by cyborg mutants, natch) up to around 30 feet. With two high-res, low-light video cameras on board, the robot's typical use is reconnisance, but its friends call it, "shorty."
The extremely robust 4WD Spybot with flapper wheels [Gizmag]
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