The South Korean company Hankook Mirae has shown a huge controllable robot that resembles a mech, known from MechWarrior, Avatar or The Matrix Revolutions, among others. The colossus is four meters high and weighs one and a half tons.
About thirty engineers are working on the “Method” robot, which took its first steps this week, according to Phys.org. The robot can be controlled by a person who can take a seat in a cabin. This is located on top of the robot’s legs and is fitted with an arm weighing 130 kilograms on either side. The device responds to and mimics the driver’s movements.
The development of the robot has now taken a year and is far from being completed, the director of the company reports. It is not yet entirely clear for which tasks the colossus is suitable, although the company claims that there is interest from the construction and manufacturing sector. The current version is still equipped with cables that are connected to computers.
The robot should be for sale at the end of 2017, for an amount of ten billion won. Converted that is slightly less than eight million euros. Vitaly Bulgarov, a designer working with Hankook Mirae, has posted photos and concepts of the robot on his Facebook page and website.