I just realized that I never answered the trivia question I posted, asking people to
guess what this apparatus does.
The answer is that it's a "Geodesic Photogrammetry System," used to localize electrodes for EEG experiments.
http://www.egi.com/gps_etal.html Basically, it's just a bunch of cameras which are used to track and localize EEG electrodes. I don't think the system's actually been used a single time since I've been in the lab. The funny thing is that even though it's by far the most foreboding-looking apparatus in our lab, it's also probably the most harmless thing in there.