Hey, So, Giant Robot Exoskeletons Are Totally a Real Thing Now

Calling all cosplayers of that one really angry white military dude from Avatar (I assume that’s, like, a decent chunk of our readership): your prayers have just been answered. A South Korean firm called Hankook Mirae Technology Robotics recently developed a 4-metre-tall, 1.5-ton robot suit dubbed the METHOD-2, which looks a whole lot like previously-mentioned Avatar guy’s AMP suit, or the APU suit from The Matrix, or any other number of robot exoskeletons with bad acronyms for names that have appeared in sci-fi movies since the beginning of time.

Here’s a clip of the METHOD-2 taking its first steps:

And here’s another video with a person in the cockpit, showing off its ability to mimic a pilot’s movements:

Wow, man. That’s pretty intense.

What would one even use these for, you ask? According to the robot’s designer Vitaly Bulgarov, who definitely doesn’t sound like an evil scientist bent on taking over the world, the METHOD-2 has “many real world applications” and “everything [he has] been learning so far on this robot can be applied to solve real world problems.” Cool, cool, cool. Very specific. You’re totally not planning an invasion or anything, dude. Totally.

Apparently, $200 million USD has been invested in the project already, and the company is aiming to make them available sometime in 2017, for the bargain basement price of $8.3 million USD a pop. But don’t worry, you’ll know when they’ve been officially released: it’ll be the day we’re all forced to get down on our knees and praise the name of Vitaly Bulgarov, our new overlord and master.

H/T: Design Boom