Would you drive this?

The animatronic wizards behind some of the creatures in Prometheus and the Harry Potter films have unleashed a monster you can drive. Not on public roads, of course. And drive is probably not the best word for piloting the six-legged 2.8-metre Mantis Hexapod – even though it’s powered by a 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine.

There are no figures on what kind of power and torque the Perkins engine outputs, but it drives the 1900kg Mantis at a leisurely 1kmh – roughly the speed of CBD traffic, then. The creators, Micromagic Systems, say the machine has the potential to speed up to 3kmh if they give it a bit of tinkering under … whatever passes for a bonnet on the Mantis.

“This is definitely the largest hexapod we have built so far,” says Micromagic Systems founder and Mantis chief designer Matt Denton. “It’s been called an instant design classic and an inspiring engineering project for the next generation.”

The idea for the Mantis was sparked in 2007, he said, and following private funding in 2009 the team spent three years building it. It’s available for hire, and offers you the chance to both drive it from the cockpit – using a computer panel – or remotely via a WiFi link.