In a move that put him one step closer to becoming Nixon from Futurama, Amazon CEO, and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos climbed into the cockpit of a 13-foot-tall mech at this year’s MARS conference in Palm Springs, California and showed off the mighty power of one hell of a big, beautiful robot body. And all we can say is AROOOOOOOO!!!
Information on the MARS conference itself—that’s Machine learning, home Automation, Robotics, and Space exploration—is a bit scant, although it has been reported in the past as an “exclusive, invite-only conference” that had “celebrities and lightsabers.” From clips and stories posted online, it seems like something akin to a fancy CES for aerospace and tech VIPs.
In the below clip, which was posted by Twitter user @calebgrowsfood and comes via The Verge, Bezos shows off what this beast of a bot can do. Which it turns out is essentially upper-body jazzercise moves. (And left, and right, and left and right, and kick, and now TAKE OVER THE WORLD AND DUMP HUMANITY INTO THE VOLCANOES.)
@JeffBezos “Why do I feel so much like #sigourneyweaver ?” @amazon #MARS2017 #openpodbaydoors pic.twitter.com/HRRzmQtZbh
— Caleb Harper (@calebgrowsfood) March 20, 2017
The massive mech that weighs in at 1.5 tons (about 3,300 pounds), is the creation of the South Korean tech company, Hankook Mirae Technology. It’s been dubbed the Method-2, was designed by concept artist Vitaly Bulgarov (who’s worked on films such as the upcoming live-action Ghost in the Shell) and first made the rounds on the internet back in January of this year. Aside from having some pretty nuts physical specs, it also has an impressive price tag at a whopping $200 million. But is there any price tag that’s too high to, as Bezos says, “feel so much like Sigourney Weaver [from Alien]”? Or like an AMP pilot from Avatar? When the robot can only move its arms and legs like a big robo-baby, yes is probably the answer.
In the video below employees at Hankook Mirae show off the Method-2’s moves. Note how the arm movements of the mech are mimicked by its pilot, and how easily those big Crossfit-ish robo-legs could squash Xenomorphs:
What do you think about billionaire Bezos in a big ol’ bot? Have the headless body of Agnew type out your response in the comments below!
Images: Jeff Bezos/twitter/ Fox
