Joe Vesey-Byrne
Jan 08, 2017
Vitaly Bulgarov/Facebook screengrab
It's difficult to say how far science fiction has influenced decisions with regards to science grants
The giant robot is a trope of many genres from sci-fi to fantasy, dystopian, and steam punk.
Gulliver's Travels (2010), Avatar (2009), Pacific Rim (2013) - the list of giant anthropomorphic robots, controlled by a smaller guy inside, is of some size.
Now one man claims to have made a real life version.
METHOD-2 is a four metres tall robot, supposedly created by Korean tech company Hankook Mirae Technology.
The concept was designed by Vitaly Bulgarov, who posted this video of METHOD-2 to his Facebook:
Some people, however, have been sceptical about METHOD-2, given that Hankook Mirae is a new company which appears to only have ever employed Bulgarov.
In an attempt to counter theories that METHOD-2 was a hoax created to become a viral video, Bulgarov told Live Science:
If you look at this from a Western point of view, then yeah, that might seem strange, but in that part of the world, the culture is a little different.
The company wants to make something first before they advertise themselves.
He also posted this video, showing METHOD-2's less than glamorous first steps.
The video shows it is very much still a prototype, with planned alterations due to the amount METHOD-2 vibrates.
Yet Live Science had further doubts.
All material relating to METHOD-2 appears to stem from Bulgarov's Facebook page.
On December 22, Bulgarov claimed that a website for Hankook Mirae was due to go online within a week.
No such site has appeared. The most prominent search result for the company is a subsection of Bulgarov's website.
So is this just a Hollywood fantasy?
Moreover, his art portfolio website refers to:
fictional robotics corporation that develops its products in a not-so-distant future.
Fictional seems to be the key word here.
Bulgarov is credited on IMDb as a member of the art departments on the sci-fi films Transformers: Age of Extinction (20XX) and RoboCop (20XX).
No prizes for guesing what kind of robots he was designing for these two features.
Live Science also pointed out that better bi-pedal technology exists, than is used by METHOD-2.
Bulgarov previously worked for Boston Dynamics, who created this "dog" robot:
We can all agree this looks cool, and we definitely want one.
HT IFL Science and Live Science
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