Japan is known for tons of amazing inventions, but they're taking things to new heights as they engineers from the country attempt to create a real-life, giant robot from the Gundam franchise, which is incredibly popular with anime fans since the 80s.
Massive Gundam Takes its First Step
In a report by Popular Mechanics, the engineers had to slow down the progress of the giant Gundam robot due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but despite that, they managed to make the robot raise its legs.
The plan is to make the massive robot walk--and by the looks of it, the team is close to their goal
In the video, cranes and engineers could be seen touching up the massive 60-foot mecha, which is quite incomplete without its head before it was still able to raise its legs a few times and was even able to rotate its massive torso.
However, it doesn't seem like the mecha is putting any weight on the leg, so they are most likely checking on its movements as of now.
According to Futurism, it appears like the video was sped up, so it's unclear how long the whole procedure took.
The video was published on YouTube earlier this month.
Making it as Light as Possible
After the progress, we might be able to see the giant Gundam robot take its first few steps in a series of walking tests before engineers could finally declare the project as complete.
Based on the report, the Gundam robot will weigh around 25 tons, which is actually quite lightweight when you consider how much it should have weighed, but Japanese engineers were able to make it as light as they could, thanks to proper planning, engineering, and design work.
According to Jun Narita, the project's head of design, they have to carefully consider the type of motors and material they have to use, otherwise, one hand alone would already weigh around 1,300 pounds.
One hand is around 6.5 feet long, starting from the metal fingertip to where the wrist will be connected.
"This weight restriction is like a curse," he says.
Following its Progress
For those who want to see the massive, real-life Gundam personally, it's calling the Port of Yokohama its temporary home as experts work on it, but you'll have to make do by peering from afar as they continue its production.
The Gundam Factory Yokohama was supposed to have a special preview event that was supposed to happen this month, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they had to cancel the event.
Nevertheless, the Gundam Factory Yokohama has a YouTube channel where they released a series about the massive robot and will most likely continue updating fans of the franchise for the robot's progress.
In one video, fans could take a virtual tour of where the engineers designed and worked on the mecha.
There's no definitive date when the project will be over, but it seems like experts will continue to work on it to have it done as soon as they could within the restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
