Okay, I guess you don’t have to be that afraid, since the spider is nothing more (and nothing less) than a gigantic piece of art commissioned from the French company La Machine for Liverpool’s 2008 Capital of Culture celebration.
The robot itself is a serious piece of machinery. It’s 50 feet high and weighs 37 tons, with 50 (five zero) hydraulic axes of movement that power it along at 2 mph. It took a year to build from steel and reclaimed poplar. As if that weren’t enough, it’s got seven different types of built-in special effects: lights, sounds, water, wind, smoke, flame, and snow (!).
The spider is scheduled to start wandering around Liverpool Friday afternoon, with the most spectacular performance taking place in the Salthouse dock (wherever that is) Friday evening and other events going on through Sunday night. We’ll keep you updated; if anyone in the area wants to send in pics or video (anyone? anyone?) I’d love to post them