Now this is a guy with too much time on his hands (building giant robot at home)

Ramblings' Journal ^ | 12.22.04 | Michael King

[mhking]

Carlos Owens is building an 18-foot tall mech (or battle robot) in his back yard.

Owens, a 26 year-old steel worker in Anchorage, AK, plans on finishing it next summer.

"This is a concept that's been around for a long time," Owens said in a telephone interview. "But I'm not going to wait for the other guy to come out and make it when I've got the capability to do it myself."

He's always had an eye for huge projects, and an inventor's itch. He built a 35-foot wooden version of his mecha when he was 19, he said, as a sculpture project because he couldn't afford the materials to make it function. The latest project, drawing on his experience in the Army and as a steelworker, is more ambitious.

"I've always been building things," he said. "But with the mecha I wanted to do something different than what everyone else was doing. It's hard to invent something new."

When completed, the idea is for the pilot to be able to strap himself into a central, padded compartment, and then control the mecha with the motions of his own body. When the pilot walks, the mecha walks. Raise an arm and open a hand, and the mecha does the same, with 46 possible movements planned.

Owens suggests on his own website, Neogentronix.com, that one day mechs like this would be able to help put our wildfires or go into military combat.

Sounds like he's watched one too many episodes of Gundam Wing or someother Anime on Adult Swim.

[mhking]

[Bluegrass Conservative]

Owens, a 26 year-old steel worker in Anchorage, AK . . . reportedly has never had a girlfriend. : )

[Mr. K]

cool

[#1CTYankee]

Looks like something from a bad Japanese SiFi movie. (Is that a oxymoron.)

[OXENinFLA]

hummmmmmmmmm

[mdmathis6]

Hey don't knock this...this guy might be onto something and if he is, he'll do for robotics like Ford did for the automobile. If he can make the concepts work with efficient expenditures of energy then the uses for it will be endless!

[hoosiermama]

What to do in the "blizzard of 2004"!.......Over a foot and it's still coming down......

[dandelion]

I second your "cool"...

COOooooooOOOOl. Know I know what to ask my Hubby to get me for Christmas.

Gigaaaaantor!!

[E Rocc]

[MikeA]

Heck, he'll probably end up taking over the world.

[ElTianti]

How does he plan on powering this thing?

[kanecorp]

I can see it now, him vs. honda.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Well, they are short on XX chromosomes up there.

[mhking]

he'll probably end up taking over the world.

[RebelBanker]

When the temperature gets warmer, he may need a few extra heat sinks. Every non-Clan battlemech has heat problems.

[mhking]

he may need a few extra heat sinks. Every non-Clan battlemech has heat problems.

That was always my problem when playing Battletech....

[Moral Hazard]

They'll probably end up making fun of him like they did that character from Tranzor Z. You see, even though he managed to build a fully functioning giant robot from parts found in a junkyard, he was considered an idiot because his robot was not as powerful as Tranzor Z, or Aphrodite A (which fired missiles out of it's breasts).

[Moral Hazard]

They'll probably end up making fun of him like they did that character from Tranzor Z. You see, even though he managed to build a fully functioning giant robot from parts found in a junkyard, he was considered an idiot because his robot was not as powerful as Tranzor Z, or Aphrodite A (which fired missiles out of it's breasts).

[Hatteras]

...

[Oberon]

How does he plan on powering this thing?

Didn't you look under the hood? It's got a 455 Pontiac with a Crane cam, Edelbrock manifold, and twin Holley 650s.