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Japan Is Literally Building a Transformer Robot

Whether you know anything about robots or don't, we’re pretty sure you’ve watched at least one of the Transformers movies. If not, we’ll only tell you this: a car that transforms into a robot and saves humans from alien attackers. Point is, there is a Japanese company building a full scale one. The first phase of the project recently came to an end and the 1/4 scale first robot is functional. And naturally, it’s Autobot chief Optimus Prime. Who has done such madness? Brave Robotics, Asratec Corporation and original Transformer creator Tomy Co. Ltd. They all joined forcers into what they named the J-deite project. Their objective is to build a full scale Transformer robot and the first stage was recently finished. The 1/4 Optimus Prime is a 5 feat (1.5 meter) tall humanoid that weighs 77 pounds (35 kg) and is covered in blue car body panels. And it is not a toy, people. Why did they make it? Because they want to prove it’s possible. So far, they did. When in car mode, the two-seater machine can drive up to 6 mph (9.5 km/h) with about 1.5-inches of road clearance. Switch back to robot mode and it is able to walk at 0.6 mph and move its arms, hands and fingers. How? It works through a proprietary software system developed by Ishido’s partner Wataru Yoshizaki of Asratec Corp. Called V-Sido, the robot can operate for roughly one hour on a single charge. But this is only the beginning, Optimus’ creators claim. In fact, they have big plans, literally. The full scale model is the final destination. When? In about five years from now, we might actually see a full-size Transformer. No, for real. As his smaller brother can already do, this one will also turn into a car, only that one will be 16-feat-long (5 meter long). You don’t believe us? Check their website (and ask a Japanese friend for a favor...) or even better, check out the presentation video below. “Autobots, rollout!”
Japan Is Literally Building a Transformer Robot 1 photo
Photo: J-Deite
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