Roboticist plans real-world Gundam replica

A Japanese roboticist plans to build a 13-foot-high Gundam clone (and wants to take it one further and build a six-storey version!)

[Takayuki Furuta,] the director of the Future Robotics Technology Center in Chiba, Japan, figured out how to make a real-life, six-story-tall Gundam, the classic battle robot from Japanese anime. He ran computer models on every aspect of the bot to determine what parts he would need to power and control the beast. Then he surfed electronics and industry-equipment catalogs to find the components. The result: a complete blueprint for a $742 million bot. By showing how the anime fixture can actually be built, he hopes to get schoolkids fired up about robotics. Well, that and he actually intends to build one. A 60-foot-tall robot may not be financially feasible, Furuta says, but he's going to try making a version that could be as tall as 13 feet. He aims to have it working by 2011, when, ideally, someone will have created something for it to fight.

Link (via Futurismic)

[#1 posted by clothingoptional , April 9, 2008 4:47 AM]

Link below has a good interview with Takayuki Furuta (d00d who wants to build the 60ft Gundam). Very interesting fellow.

http://make.pingmag.jp/2008/02/12/furuta/

When I was a child (age 2 to 8) I lived in India, and at that time a Japanese monk who had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize taught me the philosophy, “The real essentials are not something you can see with your eyes.” Speaking broadly, what I want to do is create people, things, events, and worlds. What I’m doing now is using robotics as a platform to achieve that.

[#2 posted by Gilbert Wham , April 9, 2008 5:17 AM]

Someone get this man 700 million dollars! Stat!

[#3 posted by nekochan , April 9, 2008 7:25 AM]

a zoid/zord/your word for animal-shaped mech here might be a little cheaper, since you won't need to spend so much getting it to walk on two legs.

so start with a Liger or something, my good Mr. Furuta.

[#4 posted by LogrusZed , April 9, 2008 7:55 AM]

13 feet isn't a Gundam, it's barely an Elemental.

[#5 posted by Editz , April 9, 2008 8:57 AM]

What? You mean Truckasaurus isn't enough to get the kids excited about robots??

[#6 posted by Enochrewt , April 9, 2008 3:58 PM]

If he can build it, I volunteer to fight it.

[#7 posted by Scuba SM , April 9, 2008 6:41 PM]

I'm with ENOCHREWT. If he builds it, I want to fight it too. It might be interesting to see how a Gundam as a weapons system stacks up against A-10 Warthogs, AH-64 Apaches, M1 Abrams, and various man portable anti-tank/anti-aircraft weapons systems.

Personally, if I were going to design and build some incredibly complex machine, I'd want to build one of these:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=631113