Intel’s CEO Unleashes Gesture-Controlled Spiderbots

Intel may power your PCs, your smartphones, and your tablets, but it also wants to power your horde of spider robots. On stage at the company’s Intel Developer Forum in Shenzhen China, CEO Brian Krzanich demonstrated the company’s Curie module for wearable solutions, and showed how it allowed him to control, via gesture, a quartet of multi-limbed artificial arachnoids.

Sure, when Krzanich donned the Curie-powered bracelet, the robots obeyed his commands, changing the colors of the LEDs embedded in their carapaces, pumping their “fists,” and even going to sleep when Krzanich waved his hands, but that doesn’t make us feel any more secure in the knowledge that spiderbots exist. What about when they don’t follow the orders of their bracelet-wearing masters, eh? What then, Mr. Krzanich?

When it’s not enabling horrific spider robots, Curie is destined to be embedded in wearable technology. It includes an accelerometer and gyroscope, which are what it uses to detect the arm gestures when you want to sic your spider horde on an unsuspecting victim. The device then transmits said commands to the robots via a Bluetooth LE module. Beyond bracelets, it could be embedded into jewelry like rings and pendants, fitness trackers, and so on, allowing embedded devices to become even more seamlessly a part of your spiderbot-wielding lifestyle.

Fortunately, Intel’s spiderbots are just a proof of concept right now, so you can at least rest secure in the knowledge that it will be a while before hordes of them are sent streaming into your home, dancing and waving their many limbs at you–and that’s perfectly okay by me.