Somehow the picture brings back memories of Donnie Darko.
What the hell? Ok, far away Japan has some very strange things, at least for us in the West: Square watermelons for example, processors from vending machines, rather quirky TV shows and Godzilla has an official citizenship.
What the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer and heavy industry group Kawasaki has now presented as part of the Robot Exhibition Tokyo 2022 leaves us speechless.
Frighteningly real
Robot mimics human facial expressions and gestures
Robot goat Bex
The presentation begins, the curtain is lifted. A strange white robot, reminiscent of a billy goat, with four legs, two conspicuous LED strips on the left and right of the neck and last but not least two horns, slowly starts to move at a trot. He seems a bit like robot dog Spot.
A bracket, to be precise a kind of bicycle handlebar, is attached to his neck. He leisurely trots towards the unsurprised spectators. Are they in shock at the bizarre sight? We simply take the fact that they pull out their smartphones and film as a sign of this.
After half a lap at a trot and another half lap rolling on her knees, an employee mounts and is then carried past the spectators once in a circle. To be honest we don’t really know whether to be amazed, laugh or be afraid. But see for yourself:
link to YouTube content
In a way, Bex reminds us a bit of the character Frank from the cult film Donnie Dark from 2001. Frank appears again and again in dark visions of the eponymous protagonist Donnie, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. He wears a rabbit costume with a scary mask – take a look at the trailer
What is Bex good for?
In fact, the alpine ibex served as a model for the four-legged robot Bex, whose name derives from the scientific term Capra Ibex. It is to be used primarily for transporting loads and inspections on uneven terrain.
Bex was primarily developed to transport material on construction sites that are difficult to access or on agricultural land, explains project manager Masayuki Soube. Thanks to the handlebars and the seat, people can also ride it, as the video more than impressively shows.
What do you think of the goat robot? Are you amazed or scared? Write it to us in the comments!
