South Korean company Hankook Mirae Technology is dedicated to building real life giant mechs and they’re not only for show. Just before the end of last year they debuted the Method-2, a 13-feet tall goliath that weighs 1.3 tons and sports a pair of 286-pound, motion-tracking metal arms.
Method-2, pictured above, is the world’s first manned bipedal robot and is built to work in extremely hazardous environments where humans cannot normally survive. For the pilot, it effectively functions as an armored exoskeleton and utility vehicle all at once. Sorry Titanfall 2 fans, it doesn’t come with any weapons (yet).
Right now this prototype can’t go that far from its power source, limiting it to a tethered cord. The top section can also be mounted on to a larger wheeled base that can carry a bulky power source if it really needs to traverse difficult terrain without ready access to electricity.
Real Life StarCraft
This could be a case of video game tech emerging in reality. Given the focus on industrial operations in hazardous environments, it seems to me just like StarCraft‘s good ol’ SCV.
Replace those arms with missile launcher and then you’ve got the beginnings of a Goliath.
Really, is it any surprise that the Method-2 is being developed in South Korea, where StarCraft is the national sport?
Baby’s First Steps
The company has spent upwards of $200 million since 2014 to develop the mech and enlisted some Hollywood magic by hiring SFX designer Vitaly Bulgarov, whose credits include Transformers, Robocop and Terminator. Suffice to say, the man knows his mechs.
Vitaly Bulgarov clearly loves his baby…watch him take the Method-2 for it’s first steps here:
If you think that’s impressive, imagine being in the grip of its 286-pound arms:
Appetite For Destruction
Ever since Mechwarrior, it’s been a gamer’s fantasy to pilot an armed humanoid robot and wreak mayhem on your high school bulli—I mean, enemies of humanity! Although some kind of military application may be envisioned for this technology in the future, I could see it employed more in rescue missions. Even if it doesn’t blow anything up, I can see an influx of gamers signing up to be pilots in whatever industry that ends up employing these mechs.
[Source: engadget]
This article originally appeared on video games magazine site NowLoading.co. The site is no longer online, but I’ve uploaded a few articles from my time as a staff writer there (2016-2017) here as portfolio samples.
Nicholas Montegriffo 