2020 is throwing quite a big surprise at all the Gandam fans out there. Who knew that it would be the year that a live model of the beloved mobile suit would finally reach the testing phase getting closer and closer to full functionality.
As reported some time earlier this year, the upcoming amusement park known as the Gundam Factory over at Yokohama Japan has just created a 60-foot or 18 meter tall life-sized replica of the most famous RX-78 mecha. The crewed Gundam robot comes from various TV series and manga surrounding the world of Gundam itself.
The Gandam suit's first appearance
Back some time in July, the life-sized Gundam mobile suit finally took its very first tentative steps along the road towards becoming fully functional. During the previous test, it looks like no weight was actually put on the robot's legs which has now been rectified in the more current test.
The robot has already moved on from basically doing baby steps to now performing lunges as well as an additional series of physical movements and more human-like gestures. Before getting too excited, it should be noted that the popular video of the Gundam's movement is actually sped up by 4x its original speed in order for people to see the movement at a more human-like pace.
This means that the actual speed of the Gundam mobile suit's movements are much slower than that seen circulating social media. Although it would be nice to believe that we are getting much closer to actual Gundam suits flying around blasting lasers and protecting the planet, the truth is that that technology does not exist yet.
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Why is a fully functional Gundam not out yet?
There could be two reasons why an actual Gundam suit that functions just like the anime is not out yet. One would be because the technology has not yet been perfected and that developers and engineers still need time to be able to perfect it. The other reason is that the funds put into building a live Gundam are not significant enough to speed up the process.
The current Gundam might be quite slow for some with high expectations but it is still currently quite an astonishing engineering achievement! Although Japan already had a few full-sized Gundam statues before, this is the very first time that the life-sized Gundams can actually move!
The known 25-ton robot is still due to remain at the very Port of Yokohama that is located somewhere south of Tokyo for about a year. It was first scheduled for debut back when the park was previously due to open some time in October of this year.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the park's opening has been delayed due to construction delays, supply delays, and etc. it is still unknown when the final opening date of the park might be but the only thing to do now is to hope that it actually opens some time soon.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian Buenconsejo
