Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Pilots Giant Robot Suit at 2017 MARS Conference
Ron Perillo / 8 years ago
Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos made quite the entrance at the 2017 MARS conference when he took to the stage piloting a giant robot suit. The annual Machine-Learning Automation, Robotics & Space Exploration conference (or MARS for short) is a private technology conference hosted by Amazon and attended by various experts in the field of robotics and space exploration.
If the giant robot looks familiar, that is because it is the same 13-foot bipedal Method-2 mech that was being built by Korean engineers from Hankook Mirae Technology designed by Vitaly Bulgarov unveiled several months ago. Many were doubtful whether the giant robot was even real but with Bezos piloting it himself in person, all doubts as to the robots existence has been laid to rest.
With billions of dollars, giant robot mechs and stockpiling rockets for his space program, Jeff Bezos is starting to sound like a Hank Scorpio-like super villain, although while on stage he had another pop-culture character in mind and quipped: “Why do I feel so much like Sigourney Weaver?”
I just got to pilot an awesome (and huge) robot thanks to Hankook Mirae Technology. Nice! #MARS2017 pic.twitter.com/MvN6ghEYFi
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) March 20, 2017
Jeff Bezos only operated the arms, demonstrating how responsive it was to commands which was quite impressive. Although it appears that this prototype is not ready to face off any Alien Queen anytime soon yet as it did not walk unaided and had visible chains holding it up for balance as Bezos flailed the arms about. Hankook Mirae Technology has demonstrated the latest prototype on YouTube showing the working legs although it has not been shown publicly out of their labs yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpiJl3aicr4
