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Avatar-Style Manned Robot Takes First Steps In South Korea (valuewalk.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ValueWalk: A robot designed by a veteran of science fiction blockbusters which bear a striking resemblance to the military robots seen in the movie Avatar has taken its first baby steps. The robot standing in a room on the outskirts of Seoul, South Korea stands four meters (13 feet) tall and weighs 1.5 tons. In a Facebook post, designer Vitaly Bulgarov said, "Everything we have been learning so far on this robot can be applied to solve real-world problems." His previous work experience includes work on film series such as Transformers, Terminator and Robocop, reports phys.org. Its creators at the Hankook Mirae Technology, a robotics company in South Korea, claim it is the world's first. About 30 engineers there worked hard conducting initial tests Tuesday afternoon, notes phys.org. For the engineers, it was a challenge to build the giant robot because the unprecedented scale meant they had nothing to refer to. Company chairman Yang Jin-Ho said, "Our robot is the world's first manned bipedal robot and is built to work in extreme hazardous areas where humans cannot go (unprotected)." A pilot sitting inside the robot's torso made some limb movements, and the robot, Method-2, mimicked them with his metal arms, each weighing 130 kilograms (286 pounds). It is so huge that it is twice the size of a tall man, and when it takes a step, the ground shakes with a loud whirring of motors. Method-2 has grabbed the media's attention due to its enormous size, but its creators say that the core achievement of the project is the technology they developed. How the robot will be used is unclear so far, but it is seen more as a test-bed for various technologies that will make it possible for the creators to build robots of any type and size in the future, notes phys.org.

8 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. Avatar? Seriously? by Lisandro · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Try Battletech. Aliens. Titanfall. Starship Troopers (the book).

    1. Re: Avatar? Seriously? by Chrontius · · Score: 4, Informative

      As the designer notes in an earlier interview, earlier models had wider hips and a different torso shape, with a more bio-inspired, "automotive" design. Range of motion questions, as well as seasickness caused by the robot's swaying gait, caused them to remodel the joints until the machine's proportions bear an uncanny resemblance to Cameron's AMP suits. The designer of the real one praises Cameron and his team's vision and engineering acumen. While it wasn't designed by looking at Avatar's mecha, it represents a case where there was some convergent evolution during the design process.

  2. I for one welcome our robotic overlords by youn · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I am not sure what I'd do with one but I want one :p

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  3. Robot Fighting by Dr.Altaica · · Score: 2

    Who would win three way fight be between MegaBots Inc's Mk. III, Suidobashi Heavy Industry's KURATAS and this.

  4. Re:REALLY? by OzPeter · · Score: 2

    The robot is a freagin' joke. This is a publicity stunt. The only way this thing works is with the support crane

    The cane is obviously there to stop the dam thing crashing to the ground if it over balances for whatever reason. Even Boston Dynamics does that with their prototypes.

    As is it has absolutely ZERO real world application and even less than zero in a combat situation, short of maybe something in a movie.

    We need to come up with the robotic equivalent of

    No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.

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  5. SUPER FAKE by adjustinthings · · Score: 2

    Wow the lighting effects are bad

  6. Did more research by adjustinthings · · Score: 2

    "The video was posted on social media on Sunday by a 3D modelling designer Vitaly Bulgarov, who is involved in the project."

  7. 13 feet and 1.5 ton ? by testman123 · · Score: 2

    YAPWRMU

    The poster put 1.5 ton (where "ton" aka 1000kg, or 1Mg if you wanna be a core SI nerd ) from the original article but dumped the 4m heigth to replace it with 13 feet.

    WFT

    C'm'on, if you realy want to use units that myanmar, liberia and US only still use as legal : do it. But please do not mix them without clarifying which unit you are refering to.

    As a reminder "ton" is a coloquial term for lots of things :
    - 1,016 kg if in UK and using old mesurements
    - 907kg if in US (and to some extend as a legacy in Canada to)
    - 1000 kg in the SI for the rest of our universe (until proven wrong)

    As the article was using SI units as main unit system only adding some imperial units as explanation for US citizen joes, I was expecting : either a direct quotation with SI units as main and Imperial as explanation (=KISS) or even Imperial as main (long live to the stonecutters, and yes we are on /. dude, I know) and SI as a clarification for the rest of us.