Japanese engineer spends 10 years making impressive Transformer Robot

| May 24, 2014 08:10 PM EST

Created: May 24, 2014 08:10 PM EST

Japanese engineer and hobbyist, Kenji Ishida, has spent 10 years of hard grafting and designing on the Transformer Robot and now, he's made impressive progress with the release of version 7.2. Starting with just a pair of robotic legs that could barely maneuver and producing several other iterations, he has now manufactured a robot along with other researchers at Brave Robotics in Japan that can switch from 2 legs to 4 wheels at the click of a remote button.

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transformerrobot [Image Source: Brave Robotics]

Not only does it transform, it can drive and walk at the users desire using a remote control. It can also fire plastic missiles from its arm and all the action is streamed live from a camera over WiFi to any internet enabled device such as your tablet, smartphone or computer. The transformation and balance is impressive, with the device transforming from car mode to humanoid in just 5 seconds.

He showed off the latest version of his RC transformer last weekend at Maker Faire Tokyo and now it can be yours as Ishida is planning to produce and sell10 robotsat the healthy sum of 1,980,000 Japanese yen, or about $24,000. It's hardly cheap so you better hope your not on Santa's naughty list this year, but Ishida says he plans to put the funds towards building a full size human driveable Autobot, complete with artificial intelligence, which he hopes to ready by 2030. To get an idea of the challenge ahead, the Transformer Robot needs to be scaled up to12 times the current size, let alone the massive increase in power requirements and technicality.

transformerrobot3 [Image Source: Brave Robotics]

The current version is powered by lithium-polymer batteries and is an assembly of 3-D printed parts and impressive robotics. The car mode even comes with 2 seats for your favourite action figures to take a ride. "Autobots, assemble!"

transformerrobot2 [Image Source: Brave Robotics]