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]