Giant anime 'Gundam' robots are being built to explore the Moon

A Japanese start-up company has revealed a 15-foot-tall robot with hopes of it one day exploring the moon.

Tsubame Industries developed the $3 million (£2.5m) robot that resembles the "Mobile Suit Gundam" from a popular anime show. It will be displayed at the Japan Mobility Show set to take place until 5 November.

Named after the avian dinosaur archaeopteryx, the Archax boasts a 'vehicle mode' in which it squats down onto its four legs and travels at the speed of six miles per hour.

Ryo Yoshida, 25, chief executive of Tsubame Industries plans to build for disaster relief or to explore space in the future.

"Japan is very good at animation, games, robots and automobiles so I thought it would be great if I could create a product that compressed all these elements into one," he said. "I wanted to create something that says, ‘This is Japan’."

Tsubame/YouTube

Yoshida shared early images of the Archax on X/Twitter, when Akinori Ishii, technical director at the Gundam Global Challenge, messaged him and got involved in the production.

"On Earth, there are many specialized machines for special work," he said. "On a moon base, we are not able to have so many machines. So, maybe a human-like machine will be used in such a situation."

The company reportedly aim to create an Archax prototype suitable to explore space by 2028, according to Nikkei Asia.

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