4-meter, 4-ton robot to be demoed at upcoming Wonder
Festival event
Kōgorō Kurata, an iron craftsman who is best known for
building a life-size VOTOMSstatue, plans to display his moving
"Kuratas" iron robot, which is 4 meters tall (about 13 feet tall),
weighs approximately 4 tons, and features a cockpit, at the upcoming Wonder
Festival event on July 29. The robot uses Wataru Yoshizaki's robotic control
software V-Sido to move around. With Yoshizaki's help, Kurata has been
developing the robot since January of 2010.
In an interview with Japan's Wired magazine, Kurata's robot,
which is being built in the mountains of Japan's Yamanashi Prefecture, was
revealed to have around 30 hydraulic joints, as well as the ability to grab
items and fire a gatling gun capable of shooting 6,000 BBs a minute. The
cockpit of the robot can seat one adult, and inside are its controls and a
display that shows feedback from cameras showing the front and back of the
robot, as well as an overhead view from a camera installed in a miniature
helicopter drone. The robot will use hydraulics powered by a diesel engine in
order to move. It will have four "legs," with wheels attached at the
bottom of each one.
Kurata has plans to mass-produce the "toy
robots" through his Suidobashi Heavy Industry group, and stated to Wired
that he wishes to sell the units for at least 100 million yen (about US$1.27
million) each. Kurata also said in the interview that he hopes that his robot
will encourage others to follow his example and create their own large-scale
rideable robots. According to the group's Facebook page, the robot will be
exhibited at 1 and 3 in the afternoon at the Wonder Festival event.
This is the Future!!
ReplyDeleteI can see Gundam being made already!!!