Tsubame Industries, a Tokyo-based start-up, has built a formidable robot that mimics the "Mobile Suit Gundam" from the widely acclaimed Japanese animation series. Named ARCHAX, after the avian dinosaur Archaeopteryx, this impressive 4.5-meter-tall robot comes with a hefty price tag of $3 million. The robot has cockpit monitors that receive images from cameras connected to the exterior, enabling the pilot to operate the arms and hands with joysticks from inside its torso.

The 3.5-ton robot, to be unveiled at the Japan Mobility Show, can function in two modes: the upright 'robot mode' and a 'vehicle mode,' the latter of which allows it to travel up to 10 km per hour. Ryo Yoshida, the 25-year-old CEO of Tsubame Industries, designed this product to encapsulate Japan's strengths - animation, games, robots, and automobiles. The idea was to create something that screams, "This is Japan".

Yoshida has ambitious plans beyond just catering to well-heeled robot enthusiasts. He aims to build and sell five of the mechanized giants but envisions the robots being used in fields such as disaster relief or even the space industry. Yoshida, who mastered welding at his grandfather's ironworks and then went on to found a company that makes myoelectric prosthetic hands, also expressed his determination to keep Japan's competitive edge in manufacturing alive.

📷: TSUBAME INDUSTRIES