Ride This: An SUV-Size Insectoid Robot

Denton initially shod the Mantis in modified go-kart tires. "They worked out really well," he notes, "but they weren't very grippy." So he fabricated custom rubber feet, modeling the hexagonal pattern after off-road tires. Now he alternates shoes based on the terrain. In 2007, Matt Denton stopped on the side of the road near his home in Hampshire, England, to watch an excavator dig.