Who has not dreamed of piloting a giant robot? Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos did just that when he got behind the controls of a mech robot. On March 19, Bezos got to experience controlling the 13-foot (4 meters) giant mech robot at Amazon’s annual private Machine Learning, Home Automation, Robotics and Space Exploration (MARS) event.
Amazon CEO pilots a giant robot
Bezos, the fifth richest person worldwide, got the opportunity to control the robot’s dual joysticks, and he looked quite happy while doing it.
The Amazon CEO tweeted about his experience, “I just got to pilot an awesome (and huge) robot thanks to Hankook Mirae Technology.”
People attending the conference took video of the event.
In the video, Bezos can be seen waving the robot’s arms and asking, “Why do I feel so much like Sigourney Weaver?”
There were even reports that the billionaire asked the audience to bow down before their new king and master, “Metal Jeff,” according to The Verge.
In the video, we cannot see the robot moving; instead, it is tethered to the ceiling (probably for safety reasons). We can also see in the video that the mechanical thing does not pick up anything or do anything other than move its arms around.
Still a long way to go with Method 2
The robot, dubbed Method 2, was developed by South Korea’s Hankook Mirae Technology and designed by Hollywood concept artist Vitaly Bulgarov. The robot was first seen in promotional videos developed by Hankook Mirae Technology in South Korea in December. At that time, everyone was dubious about the existence of the robot and its functionality.
According to its developers, one of their main goals of creating a robot like this is to make it do real-world jobs such as cleaning up the Fukushima nuclear power plant that was damaged in 2011 when a tsunami and massive earthquake struck Japan. That goal is still just a goal for now, as the robot is only able to move its arms currently. Maybe with time, it will learn how to use its mechanical hands as well.
Hankook Mirae wants to create a giant robot and not a one like the bipedal “Atlas” humanoid robot or the “Big Dog.” However, big robots are dangerous as well, so the developer has to be very careful about safety. The Method 2 weighs a minimum of 1.6 tons, according to Hankook Mirae’s website.
@JeffBezos "Why do I feel so much like #sigourneyweaver ?" @amazon #MARS2017 #openpodbaydoors ?? pic.twitter.com/HRRzmQtZbh
— Caleb Harper (@calebgrowsfood) March 20, 2017
