What has six legs and could probably crush a car?

Stompy, the giant spider-like robot being constructed by a team of Somerville engineers and their students.

At Artisan’s Asylum, Dan Cody and 16 tech junkies have begun production on a larger-than-motor-vehicle-design of a Hexapod that would seat two passengers and take up two lanes’ worth of traffic.

Artisan’s Asylum, where Stompy is being put together, is a 25,000-square-foot workspace collaborative and community craft studio.

The Hexapod, dubbed Stompy for it’s six, large, hydraulic powered legs, will be constructed over the next four months as the students test their welding and development software skills.

“Its not exactly street-legal,” Cody said, describing the 2,000 to 3,000 pound robot with a 17-foot width. “We have space nearby and inside where we can try it,” he said.

Cody said the project has been brewing for roughly six months, and they have been building a smaller prototype of the legs before they start on the full-scale beast.

“We are racing away. The actual legs will start in the next month,” he said.

Cody said team Hexapod will turn to Kickstarter, a crowd-funding website, as the project moves forward so supporters can help fund the six-legged robot and bring it to life.

Stompy will likely be controlled from the seat atop its frame, using two separate controllers to move forward and side-to-side, while the other would transition the seating compartment.