It’s not exactly supposed to be a weaponized robot (yet), but this pilotable giant robot from South Korea’s Hankook Mirae Technology looks like something from the video game series “MechWarrior.”
The 13-feet-tall, 1.5-ton behemoth, dubbed “Method-2,” was designed by Vitaly Bulgarov, who has film credits like “Transformers” to his name.
“Our robot is the world’s first manned bipedal robot and is built to work in extreme, hazardous areas where humans cannot go,” Hankook Mirae Technology chairman Yang Jin-Ho told Unilad.
In all likelihood, Yang’s described “extreme, hazardous environment” is the North-South Korean border zone, widely known as the DMZ. Its metal arms weigh in at almost 300 pounds each, complete with human-like hands to allow the pilot to manipulate objects with the dexterity of its driver.
“It was quite an ambitious project that required developing and enhancing a lot of technologies along the way,” Bulgarov wrote on Instagram. “That growth opens up many real world applications where everything we have been learning so far on this robot can be applied to solve real world problems.”
The Method-2 project is only one year into development and still needs work on its balance and power systems, but designers hope to have it ready for production by the end of 2017.