
As Japan rebuilds their giant Gundam statue, Hajime Sakamoto remains unimpressed. He wants to build a working Gundam, and hopes his company’s 13 foot humanoid robot — complete with room for a human pilot — is a step in the right direction.
So far they’ve completed one of the robot’s legs, but that’s a far cry from a fully functional humanoid. To bring it to completion, his company — the Hajime Research Institute — is looking for sponsors and contributors to help fund it. If it does ever get built, the 13 foot tall robot could be the grandfather of a full-sized Gundam, since Hajime hopes to follow it up with a 26 foot bot, and then a 59 foot bot, the same height as one of the anime mobile suits.
The R&D behind this project also paves the way for the eventual creation of Mechagodzilla, giving Japan some much needed defence against eventual monster attacks. [Hajime Research Institute via Plastic Pals via TechCrunch]



















Damo
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 11:15 AMOh yeah sure… build that! What could possibly go wrong. Say, why don’t we call it Skynet?!
TSH
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 11:43 AMabout bloody time!
meanwhile a competing Japanese firm will be hard at work genetically manipulating human cells to create skyscraper-sized beings, only controllable via powered, mechanised, armour-like suits…
bazuden
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 12:16 PMPiloted by 14 year olds.
Trewstuff
Friday, December 23, 2011 at 1:40 AMI’m sure we could get the worst possible selection of mental unstable children, who are strife with serious parent issues around here somewhere…
James Mac
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 2:41 PMBring on the Battlemechs.