Towards Building The Worlds First Mecha
I don't typically write personal updates, or really anything much on this website. That is going to start changing very soon, because I am developing out the foundation to the first commercially available Mech.
Mechs, for those who don't know, is a form of robotic-adjacent machinery where a 'pilot' or controller is embedded inside the machine and has control of the arms, legs, and other various utilities. The most famous examples come from the 'Mecha' genre (that I am most assuredly inspired by) are Mobile Suit Gundam, Pacific Rim, Armored Core, and more.
Wikipedia defines Mecha as:
In science fiction, mecha (Japanese: メカ, Hepburn: meka) or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese after shortening the English loanword 'mechanism' (メカニズム, mekanizumu) or 'mechanical' (メカニカル, mekanikaru), but the meaning in Japanese is more inclusive, and 'robot' (ロボット, robotto) or 'giant robot' is the narrower term.
I have always enjoyed and been interested in the 'mecha' genre since I was a kid, likely due to watching reruns of Gundam Wing, an off-shoot of the main Gundam series, on late-night television. They are likely one of my largest inspirations for getting involved in robotics and eventually starting an industrial robotics and automation laboratory, DNX Industries close to five years ago, even my core inspiration, The Iron Giant, features a giant robot.
While developing out our modular robotic platform framework I came to the conclusion that the world needs a new type of machine, one that inspires, and one that can easily be used in a vast complex of different industries. This machine must be functional in new and exciting ways, feature its very own operating system, and be built to be truly modular, repairable, and efficient in every way.
People tend to shrug off the concept of a Mech because they don't see any usage in the real world as nearly all shows and fictional material that showcase them have the machines battling alien species, spacian colonies and countries, or giant creatures such as Godzilla, but when you begin to imagine and tailor the concept towards real-world usage of electrical, construction, and agricultural work, not military, you really start opening the doors to a lot of interesting and exciting new capabilities for many different industries. Science fiction helps us create the future.
We aren't even the first group to begin building out a Mech, an example can be found with the development of Prometheus being developed by Exosapian Technologies or from Kuratas developed by Suidobashi Heavy Industry. While our design, principles, and focus will be vastly different, this is the way the future of the industry is heading.
We have already started developing out the new foundations of the project, and,when I say laying the foundation, I do mean the literal foundation. We expect to have a small-form prototype of the new wheel assemblies and embedded motion systems to be completed over the next few weeks.
I hope to have some feature updates over the next several months.