Giant mecha robots that actually exist
Last Updated on April 16, 2023 by Mutiara
Robots are all around us today. They clean our houses and bring us food. And they are just huge. From the giant ant to the biggest hexapod robot, let’s take a look at the top most unusual giant robots in the world. Giant Mecha Robots.
Mecha robots – Gundam
In the Japanese city of Yokohama, a giant robot Gundam was tested – a life-size replica of the character from the anime of the same name.
The giant robot is to become part of the Gundam Factory Yokohama museum/amusement park dedicated to giant robots. The opening was originally scheduled for July, but due to the pandemic was postponed to October, and then indefinitely. The creators of the park hope that now the museum will open within a year.
The giant is assembled from 200 parts, which are made of steel and carbon fiber reinforced plastic. It took 6 years to turn a “set of parts” into a walking robot. The growth of the robot is more than 18 m. It can turn its head, kneel, move its arms and fingers, and even walk. And this is with a weight of 25 tons! In total, the robot has 24 moving parts.
Giant robot – ant
The family of animal robots from German robotics developer Festo is expanding. As part of the Bionic Learning Network project, the company introduced a new kind of robot: a swarm of ants that can interact with each other. The robot ants are called BionicANTS. When creating them, Festo focused not only on their appearance and manner of movement, but also on their behavioral features.
According to the assurances of the developers, BionicANT function according to clear rules distributed among themselves. Ants coordinate all their actions and movements with each other.
Each 13.5 cm ant has a radio module on its “belly”, with the help of which precise coordination is carried out. A 3D stereo camera in the ant’s head allows it to see, and an infrared optical sensor mounted below tracks the movement of the mini-robot. Meanwhile, two onboard batteries provide up to 40 minutes of wireless ant operation. They recharge in the dock with the help of their antennae.
Curatas
Kuratas is a robot created by Japanese developers. 4.4 tons of metal, four meters high, more than thirty hydraulic joints and, most importantly, an incredibly impressive view. The miracle of technology moves on wheels, which end with four legs, and the beast-machine “feeds” on diesel. Inside, Kuratas has a driver’s seat, which controls the mechanism using a touchscreen and two joysticks that are responsible for the movements of the hands of the unit.
The robot is armed with two rocket launchers and two rotary machine guns. Flare guns are more or less real and can shoot fireworks or water bottles (but incomplete and incapable of causing injury). The guns are fake.
Of course, Kuratas will not enter service with the Japanese army in the near future. This is mostly a creative project, albeit done with suspicious care.
Robot Method-2
Since 2014, about $200 million has been spent on the creation of a giant machine, which has the working title Method-2. Only the arms of the robot weigh 130 kg each, the total weight is about 1.5 tons. And when Method-2 takes a step, the ground literally trembles under it.
However, walking and performing simple movements are practically the only actions that the giant robot can reproduce so far. He will learn to perform more complex actions in the next couple of years. In the meantime, it acts as an experimental – a working model, on which further technological solutions will be honed. The developers of the robot promise to provide its first functional versions by the end of 2023. And they even voice the estimated price – about 10 billion won, or 8.3 million dollars per copy.
Prosthesis
The Prosthesis exoskeleton is a five-meter racing robot. It is not only the futuristic design that is striking, but also the very concept of the robot, in which the pilot “hangs”, freely moving the levers to control the movement of the robot.
The robot operates on the principle of an exoskeleton, i.e. to control the robot, it is necessary to make a proportional movement of the controls. The appearance of the robot resembles a huge animal on four powerful legs with a pumped torso. The movement is carried out by alternately stepping over the paws. All mechanics work on hydraulic traction, the power plant is an electric motor.
The car moves quite silently, despite its huge size:
Width – 5m.
Height – 4.2 m.
Length – 3 m.
Weight – 3.5t.
The safety of the pilot is ensured by a powerful frame, a kind of monocoque around the cockpit. The “cabin” is mounted on 50 cm dampers, this is especially important during tests, because. the car rolls over frequently.
Fedor
On August 22, 2019, the Russian anthropomorphic robot Fedor set off for the ISS. On September 7 of the same year, he returned. If you haven’t realized yet, this is the first flight of the first Russian anthropomorphic robot into space.
Fedor (FEDOR – Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research) was developed by NPO Androidnaya Tekhnika and the Advanced Research Foundation by order of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
The robot is equipped with a speech system capable of recognizing words and giving answers. Weight – 106 kg, height – 182 cm, rated power – 5 kW, maximum power – 15 kW. For 2019, commutator motors were supplied from Switzerland, gearboxes from Germany. Some of the sensors and the single-board computer of the robot are also foreign-made. Brushless motors – own production of NPO Androidnaya Tekhnika. “Fedor” consists of Russian parts by 40% in terms of money and 70-75% by weight. Of the 48 engines, 16 are foreign. The robot can work autonomously for an hour, under the control of an operator over a long distance via satellite communications.
MK-3
Megabots, a well-known company in certain circles, has presented to everyone’s attention its next creation – a new robot called MK-3, which will meet in a duel with another heavy robot, the Japanese robot Kuratas. And as a demonstration of the capabilities of the new machine, equipped with a new type of power manipulators, Megabots specialists made the robot grab a small car, lift it into the air to a height of 3.5 meters and throw it down.
To supply the MK-3 robot with the energy it needs, four 15-meter hoses are used, through which about half a cubic meter of hydraulic fluid is pumped per minute at a pressure of 280 atmospheres. Currently, only the upper part of the MK-3 robot, its torso and Heavy Lift Arms power manipulators exist in the world, which allow the robot to lift loads weighing up to 1150 kilograms. The legs for this robot are still under development and manufacturing, and in the meantime, the robot for testing it is installed on a special mobile platform.
Monkey King
The Chinese company Greatmetal built a prototype manned combat robot Monkey King and presented it at the G-Festival in Beijing. The robot can walk on four limbs for better stability, and can also stand up to its full height on its feet. In an upright stance, the robot can pick up a rod attached to its back and, apparently, use it as a weapon.
It is worth noting that the company published a video showing the capabilities of the robot, but it is of low quality and part of the video was created using computer graphics, so it is difficult to assess the real capabilities of Monkey King. Apparently, he can really move his limbs and head, and there is also a special mechanism for moving the wand into a combat position. Other details about the robot are not reported, and it is not entirely clear whether the Monkey King has its own power source, or whether it needs to be connected to an external power supply. At the same time, in the description of the video, representatives of Greatmetal stated that they consider Monkey King as a potential opponent in the battles of combat humanoid robots.
Beetle robot Kabutom RX-03
The robotic beetle Kabutom RX-03, designed by Japanese engineer Hitoshi Takahashi, appeared before the public at a festival held in the suburbs of Tokyo on August 26, 2012.
Kabutome is a robot in the form of a large black beetle 11 meters long and weighing 17 tons, with diesel engines, it can walk on six legs, blowing smoke from its nose. The car is able to move slowly, but not walking on its feet, as it might seem at first, but rolling on wheels. It was brought to the festival by two trucks and assembled with cranes for seven hours.
The robot can be controlled while inside it in the cabin (you can take a couple of passengers on board), as well as through a huge remote control.
When asked about the purpose of the “beetle”, its creator replies that, they say, let the car serve to cheer up.
Mantis
A group of crazy scientific minds from Micromagic Systems, led by Matt Denton, have been working for the past four years on a four-legged robot “Mantis” (“Praying Mantis”), more like a spider and designed to transport a person. The resulting sample rightfully received the definition of “the largest all-passing hexapod robot in the world.”
The robot weighs as much as 1900 kg, grew – 2.8 meters, it runs on a 2.2-liter Perkins turbodiesel engine and is stuffed with various sensors (including force sensors, sensors for the angle of rotation and tilt, and an inclinometer) that help it walk. To coordinate movement, the robot uses HexEngine, based on a Linux PC, which controls the movement of 18 hydraulic actuators installed in the legs. An additional computer panel located in the cab allows the robot to be controlled.
