Mirror mirror on the wall, show the most fashionable country of them all. The Metropolitan Museum of Art plans to do just that in spring 2015 where it will display China: Through the...
MEET KURATAS, YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD GIANT MECH
Have you ever thought to yourself, “Jeez I’d really love to own a ’13 tall 4-ton mech with blast-proof armor and an interchangeable weapons system”? Well, your lucky day has arrived, courtesy of blacksmith/artist/visionary Kogoro Kurata.
It all started when, drawing influence from an 80’s anime series called Votoms, Kurata created a life-size robot model. The creation received a lot of attention, subsequently igniting its creator’s desire to produce a working, moving, technologically sound version. He began forging and tinkering, eventually bringing in doctoral student Wataru Yoshizaki to design the weapons and develop the software necessary for the robot’s plethora of modern amenities, according to Jeff Blagdon of the verge.com.
Operating under the company name, “Suidobashi Heavy Industry”, the duo produced a finished, audience-demonstration ready product affectionately named “Kuratas” within 3 years. I’d imagine that when the news leaked, sci-fi enthusiasts and middle-school boys everywhere experienced excitement-related heart palpitations.
You may have thought that my opening paragraph was written in jest, but I assure you that it’s true. For a meager 1.35 million dollars, customers can actually own their very own street-legal (joking about the street-legal part) mech in a variety of colors and specifications. There have been no actual orders yet, but Kurata is not worried, maintaining instead that he values the creative process more than turning a profit.
WRITTEN BY: JASON GREENSPAN
PHOTO CREDIT: SUIDOBASHI HEAVY INDUSTRY
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