Robotics

Hajime Sakamoto and his team are busy constructing a real-life Gundam robot in Japan.  The 4M Robot Project intends to construct a bipedal humanoid robot with a pilot's cockpit.

In 2010, Hajime Sakamoto (the founder of the Hajime Research Institute) started a project to develop a 4 meter (13 foot) humanoid robot with a cockpit. The giant robot will be the largest humanoid robot in the world with the ability to do biped walking. Hajime is currently looking for sponsors for the project.


Humanoid robots with cockpits commonly called "Mobile Suits" have been well known in  Japanese anime. Gundam, a subseries of Mecha anime that centres around robots or machines (see video below). These machines vary greatly in size, shape and appearance. Some are little more than cars with arms and legs, while others are giant humanoid constructs.


The 4M Robot Project is purposefully drawing inspiration from such anime for the construction and development of the robot, however in these early stages it appears the robot will only offer basic bipedal motion.  The Mechs seen in Avatar and The Matrix Revolutions are still a few years off yet.