A Japanese engineer named Hitoshi Takahashi spent 11 years creating this huge, diesel-powered bug bot from nothing. And now, as he did recently in Ibaraki Prefecture, he shows up in parking lots and amazes everyone.
Here, you can see Takahashi when he was 50 years old, starting work on the Kabutom RX-01 in 1998. Alone.
This type of horned beetle is called "kabutomushi" in Japanese—hence the name "Kabutom."
He completed Kabutom RX-02 in 2000, when he was 52 years old.
And in 2009, at the age of 60, Takahashi completed the Kabutom RX-03, a giant beetle-shaped robot, able to walk with all six legs and able to carry six adult passengers.
At the time, he told Fuji TV, "I said to my wife I was thinking about making a kabutomushi robot that you can ride. He said, 'Oh, that sound interesting, so make it. You could probably ride it to take out the trash.'"
Now, Takahashi keeps busy, showing off his creation on the weekends, and his recent showing has made his robot the talk of 2ch, Japan's largest forum. He also finished a new creation, the Heracles A-1, which is modeled after the Hercules Beetle.
Something tells me he won't be content with just a Heracles A-1.
Kabutom [Official Site]
カブトムRX-03歩行デモ＠まつりつくば2013 [YouTube]
Photos: Minkara, Design Access, けんけんのずくだせ日記, 中銀カプセルタワー応援団
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