Intel is getting better at PR. At the recent Intel Developer Forum, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich took to the stage to demo its latest system-on-a-chip controlling an army of spiderbots.

OK it wasn't an army it was just four but it could have been. 

The Curie, announced back in January, might be Intel's best chance of getting more than a foothold in the IoT market. It is tiny button-like device that has a complete Intel Quark SoC and some sensors built in.

It might be small, but it has 384K of Flash and 80K of SRAM to run the open source RTOS operating system. What is remarkable is that it also crams in  Bluetooth LE, DSP hub and 6-axis accelerometer and gyro. 

The intention is that this could be used in wearable devices, but it is obvious that it has applications that go well beyond this. The Curie formed the main part of the demonstration. A small wristband containing a Curie monitored Krzanich's arm position and gestures and connected via Bluetooth to four spiderbots. 

It all sounds innocent enough, but watch what happens:

Spooky isn't it?!

In case you missed them, the spiderbots aren't new. They were on show at CES earlier in the year and, even without the Curie controller, they are cute:

What is it with Intel and spiders? To show off its Edison processor Intel helped create a spider dress that reacted to protect the wearer's personal space if someone came to close, see Spider Dress Defends Your Space.

Now it has a bunch of spiders under the CEO's personal command. Perhaps this is how they plan to finish off ARM and any other competitors. 

The wristband containing the Curie is claimed to be able to detect a range of gestures and what its wearer is doing. Couple this to Intel's RealSense depth camera and there is no telling where it all leads. 

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