China's real-life 'transformer' mech is a giant humanoid robot that can switch from bounding on 4 legs to walking on 2
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Chinese engineers have built a mecha-style robot that can quickly transition from two legs to four while carrying people, resembling the power-loader exoskeletons from Aliens or the utility-style mobile suits from Japanese anime series Gundam SEED.
The robot's developer, Unitree, says the large, humanoid robot is intended for civilian transport. In a promotional video, the robot — called GD01 — walks upright, smashes down a high wall of cinder blocks, and reconfigures itself to stand on four limbs to traverse more difficult terrain.
Unitree representatives say the machine weighs around 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) with an operator on board and stands nearly 10 feet (3 meters) tall. People can even buy the robot, with prices starting at 3.9 million yuan ($572,000).
The core structure of the machine is a skeleton of titanium alloy and aerospace-grade aluminum surrounded by a carbon-fiber shell.
Unitree calls the GD01 the world's first mass-produced "transformable mecha," and has urged consumers to "be sure to use the robot in a friendly and safe manner," according to the written description for the promotional video.
Mounting the GD01 in its current incarnation isn't the most user-friendly process. In the video, an operator has to awkwardly scale up the leg of the machine to access the cockpit. Interestingly, although the GD01 is being marketed as a manned machine, the initial shots show it being controlled remotely, with no operator in the cockpit.
Unitree is a robotics startup headquartered in Hangzhou, China, and is best known for much more modestly sized humanoid and quadruped robots.
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Unitree's lineup of humanoid robots.
The company manufactures and sells several models ranging in price from $4,290 for the torso-only R1-D to $90,000 for the H1 — a general-purpose robot built with lidar and depth cameras and driven by Unitree's M107 joint motor, a high torque, high-endurance motor with a focus on agility, speed and load capacity.
At a spring gala hosted by Unitree in February, the company's humanoid robots were filmed performing impressive feats of acrobatics, synchronized and break dancing, and complex martial arts routines.
Unitree has not released a full technical paper on the GD01, but it's clear that the mecha builds on the company's experience building quadrupedal robots capable of traversing difficult terrain.
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Four-legged models like the B2 are capable of climbing stairs, remaining upright when suffering heavy impacts, and even leaping across gaps. They can also be modified from straight-legged configurations to wheeled models.
Unitree's quadrupeds use multiple sets of fish-eye binocular depth-sensing cameras, which allow the robots to simultaneously view their surroundings from the front, bottom and sides.
According to Unitree's website, the company focuses on "self-researching key core robot components such as motors, reducers, controllers, Lidar and high-performance perception and motion control algorithms."
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Alan is a freelance tech and entertainment journalist who specializes in computers, laptops, and video games. He's previously written for sites like PC Gamer, GamesRadar, and Rolling Stone. If you need advice on tech, or help finding the best tech deals, Alan is your man.
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