WEBVTT - Could We Build A Real Gundam?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren voc Obam, And if science fiction has taught

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<v Speaker 1>us anything, it's that giant piloted robotic humanoids will eventually

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<v Speaker 1>be essential to the protection of everything we hold Dear

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<v Speaker 1>invading Kaiju from another dimension. Send in the yagers Row

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<v Speaker 1>beasts from Planet Doom, better assemble Vultron, And, as James

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<v Speaker 1>Cameron's Aliens taught us in six even a non combat

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<v Speaker 1>nex suit can make all the difference against an extra

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<v Speaker 1>terrestrial threat. Another influential example is our X seventy eight

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<v Speaker 1>Dash to Gundam. The titular piloted giant robot entered the

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<v Speaker 1>world in nineteen seventy nine as part of Yoshiyuki Tomino's

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<v Speaker 1>mobile suit Gundam franchise, which remains popular today. But could

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<v Speaker 1>we build our own gun Dams? The simple answer is yes.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, scientists have been tackling various aspects of the

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<v Speaker 1>technology since at least the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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<v Speaker 1>During that time, both Russian and American inventors it explored

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<v Speaker 1>the possibility of mechanically enhanced exo skeletons to aid humans

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<v Speaker 1>in various physical movements. Since that time, we've continued to

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<v Speaker 1>see exo skeleton advancements aimed at injury rehabilitation, space travel,

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<v Speaker 1>industrial labor, and yes, even military combat and okay, power

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<v Speaker 1>armor is nice and all, but it's hardly a giant

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<v Speaker 1>robot that stomps around and punches monsters in the face.

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<v Speaker 1>What about true towering Mecca's Well, the answer here is

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<v Speaker 1>also a yes. Within the field of robotics, we've seen

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<v Speaker 1>tremendous achievements in the creation of remote control, autonomous, and

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<v Speaker 1>semi autonomous machines. Today, military drones haunt the skies of

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<v Speaker 1>our various global combat zones, and space exploration probes have

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<v Speaker 1>delivered wheeled rovers to other worlds. We've even given our

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<v Speaker 1>wheeled robots arms for tasks from bomb dispersal to Martian

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<v Speaker 1>soil sampling and deep sea exploration. But none of these

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<v Speaker 1>mechanical minions boasts legs. Even the humanoid roboknot developed by

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<v Speaker 1>NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson's Space Center didn't acquire climbing legs

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<v Speaker 1>until its second iteration. For proper Gundams to one day

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<v Speaker 1>walk the planet will need proper robot legs, and this

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<v Speaker 1>too has featured into the work of various robotics programs.

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<v Speaker 1>The most famous of these is Boston Dynamics, military funded

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<v Speaker 1>walker programs such as Big Dog and Cheetah, and not

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<v Speaker 1>just because they inspired the killer robots in the Black

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<v Speaker 1>Mirror episode Metal Head. Because while aerial and nautical robots

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<v Speaker 1>can get by just fine without a leg to stand on,

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<v Speaker 1>terrestrial robots are a different matter. Wheels are great on

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<v Speaker 1>the road and unobstructed landscapes, but legs provide the most

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<v Speaker 1>versatility for diverse environments. True wheel like structures only rarely

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<v Speaker 1>occur in biology, such as the bacterial flagellum, a structure

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<v Speaker 1>found in such species as the Bacterium equali. Legs, on

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<v Speaker 1>the other hand, are natural selections primary solution to terrestrial transportation,

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<v Speaker 1>so it makes sense to copy evolution in this regard,

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<v Speaker 1>and biommetic engineers have looked to all manner of leg

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<v Speaker 1>rangements for inspiration, from humans to millipedes. But here's the catch.

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<v Speaker 1>Led movement requires a great deal of programming, complexity and power.

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<v Speaker 1>It may feel easy for most of us, but our

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<v Speaker 1>minds and bodies are highly evolved for the task. Even

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<v Speaker 1>a fully piloted gundam, say one word's movements are mapped

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<v Speaker 1>on those of the pilot. Would require a tremendous amount

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<v Speaker 1>of biometic engineering, and semi autonomous units would require the

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<v Speaker 1>dexterity and spatial awareness to avoid the pitfalls of for example,

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<v Speaker 1>the e D two oh nine in RoboCup, which stomped

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<v Speaker 1>around on two feet but was incapable of navigating stairs.

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<v Speaker 1>But the Mecca dream is strong. While various robotics companies

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<v Speaker 1>continue to develop the necessary technology, sci fi fans also

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<v Speaker 1>go at it alone. Functional MECA suites have strolled the

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<v Speaker 1>Plaia at Burning Man and paraded at various conventions, and

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<v Speaker 1>Japanese engineer Masaki Nagumo built a working life size model

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<v Speaker 1>of a Gundam in the Mecca, dubbed l W Mononofu

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<v Speaker 1>stands twenty eight feet hall that's about eight point five

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<v Speaker 1>meters and ways seven point seven tons or about seven

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<v Speaker 1>metric tons. It's too big to leave the factory space

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<v Speaker 1>that it calls home, but Nagobo rents it and other

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<v Speaker 1>mecca's out for a little under a thousand bucks an hour.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not protecting the world from alien attacks, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>quite a hit for kid's birthday parties. Though one note

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<v Speaker 1>here if aliens or giant monsters do attack well, Mecca's

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<v Speaker 1>might not be the best option anyway. As was pointed

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<v Speaker 1>out in the magazine Popular Mechanics, the yagers from the

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<v Speaker 1>Pacific Rim films are entirely outclassed by existing aerial bombers

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<v Speaker 1>and attack helicopters. Today's episode was written by Robert Lamb

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<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tyler Clang. It was also suggested to

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<v Speaker 1>us by Lucas, twelve years of age from Ontario, Canada. Lucas,

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<v Speaker 1>we hope that answer was satisfactory, nay, exemplary listeners. If

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<v Speaker 1>you have a question you'd like us to answer, send

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<v Speaker 1>it to us. You can email us at brain stuff

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<v Speaker 1>at how stuff works dot com, or find us on

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<v Speaker 1>And of course we more on this and lots of

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<v Speaker 1>other mechanically advanced topics. Visit our home planet, how stuff

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