This is a Pleurobot, the salamander robot, which can have a proud place in the gigantic squad of childish, sexist, and tyrannical General Haffaz Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) from the movie “THE DICTATOR”. Why on earth will he need this? Quite frankly, no idea! Maybe because he is an idiot and he might love to gang up such creatures in his army to attack Israel. Whoa! Such big plans huh? Maybe Tom Cruise could use this salamander robot in his next Mission Impossible franchise. Why? Don’t know. But, Leonardo DiCaprio must own one! Why? Because “THE REVENANT” brought him Oscars, the movie focuses on climate change, and because aquatic animals are highly prone to danger due to climatic change, so this way he would save one, i.e., salamander, who cares if it’s not a real one? It’s for charity Eh?
Green Eyed Salamander Robot
So, does this salamander robot wear a swimsuit? No, it is water resistant (At least according to what the good professor states!) Does it spit venom? We highly doubt so! For all we know it’s just made up of sheet metal, plastic, and some composite stuff like any other robot. Does it look scary enough to frighten the daylights out of you? Maybe not, but a child may run for hills if this eerie salamander arrives walking in front. Does it bite? Not unless you poke (Kidding). Does it have a diet plan? Oh no, it does not. Considering it’s still a machine. Why would you like to own one? There’s no exact answer to this, but it can be used to disturb your father while he is busy with the newspaper, to make your mother shriek out loud when she’s heavily occupied in the kitchen.
It’s surely not difficult to make an eerie, lifelike robot, which looks like an animal, but it is way too hard to program a robot in order to function like an animal. Prof. Auke Jan Ijspeert is known for designing biorobots and machines modelled after animals, which are perfectly capable of handling tough terrain and would surely hit front pages of some sci-fi novel.
So what’s next? How about a dinosaur robot? Yes. Keep waiting.