The giant robots are coming
On this blog we talk a lot about cars and tend to focus one new technologies, especially those which focus on using less or no fossil fuels, as well as advancements in building materials and such. What we don’t tend to talk about that much on this blog is robots, but that will change today.
The subject of today’s post is named Kuratas and comes from Japan – of course it comes from Japan, where else could it come from?
Kuratas is a Transformers-like ‘robot’ build by Suidobashi Heavy Industries – SHI – in conjunction with artist Kogora Kurata and robotics expert Wataru Yoshizaki.
The creation weights a whopping 4.5 tons and stand 4-meter – or 13.1-feet – tall and can be controlled either by a driver who sits in the cockpit or it can be remotely controlled via a smartphone.
The Kuratas is capable of reaching speeds of up to 10km/h or 6mph on city streets – interestingly enough, and keeping in tune with robot ‘traditions’ from either sides of the globe, SHI is also offering to outfit the robot with guns that can shoot plastic bottles or BB pellets – in its civilian version.
It should be understood that Kuratas is an art piece. Even though it’s a vehicle, it isn’t a conventional vehicle by any stretch of the imaginary, it does not guarantee neither the safety nor comfort for the driver – or pilot – but what it does do is to fulfill the dream of becoming a robot pilot.
Even though this appears to be a one-off, since it is a piece of art after all – according to the company as well – but SHI is actually thinking about creating a production model which would be priced at around $1.35 million – however this would not include a number of extras such as an iron crow, a handgun, shotproof armor and of course, a drink holder.
