The raging forest fires of the future will be fought, not by puny humans, but by giant hulking robots like this one. (Note little human figurine for scale.) This robot, designed by student Jordan Guelde in a senior project, is willing to do what it takes to contain a fire — including massacre a lot of trees. Want to see more pics of the model, plus some computer images of the robot cutting a swathe through a roaring inferno?

The robot's physical model has 600 parts and took six months to put together. It includes rotating back shoulder brackets, so the back arms can rotate behind the robot's back when they're not in use. It also has welded steel frames running through its legs for extra support, and hubless motors in the feet. [Jordan Guelde, via [H] Enthusiast]