This 13-foot-tall mechanical suit looks like something straight out of a sci-fi film
South Korean engineers have created the robot straight out of every sci-fi buff's dream: a walking, working mechanical suit that you can ride in and control.
Hankook Mirae Technology showed off a working prototype of its 4 meter (13 foot) tall robot on Tuesday, phys.org reports.
The robot, which looks like the fictional AMP suit from Avatar, mirrors the movement of the operator's arms.
Like Avatar's AMP suit, which allowed humans to battle in the toxic air of Pandora, Hankook's real-life version is also meant to enable humans to work in "extreme hazardous areas," the company said.
The mech was created with the help of designer Vitaly Bulgarov, who's done work on the Transformers, Robocop and Terminator movies, along with several World of Warcraft and Diablo video game titles.
Bulgarov posted several videos of the robot in action, noting that "the ground shakes" when the 1.5 ton robot walks.
He said on Instagram that the "ambitious project" required developing technologies along the way that could go toward opening up more real world applications for engineers.
Hankook will spend 2017 refining it, including stabilising its balance while walking.
The company has spent an estimated 242 billion won ($200 million) over the past two years to develop the robot, and each one will eventually be priced at 10 billion won ($8.3 million) when they're ready at the end of 2017.
Here's an early iteration of Bulgarov's design, which he posted on his website.
Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band
