Genghis was built at MIT in the mid-1980s to demonstrate the efficacy of using numerous small, light, mobile robots to reconnoitre the Martian surface. Genghis was famous for being made quickly and cheaply due to construction methods and was the prototype for the later autonomous “spider” robots Attila and Hannibal. Genghis weighs about 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds), contains 6 pyroelectric sensors for detecting animal life, and employs 12 motors to power its 6 independently operating legs.
Its six sensors picked up on the heat of a living creature, such as a person or a dog, and triggered the stalking mode. It would scramble to its feet and follow its prey, moving around furniture and climbing over obstacles to keep the prey in sight.
Genghis is now located in the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
