$725,000,000 Gundam

Gundam -- Ever wondered how much it would cost to build a working, life-sized Gundam robot? At least $725 million for the parts and materials, according to an estimate published on the SciencePortal website run by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. The price tag for this giant humanoid, which would stand 18 meters (60 feet) tall and weigh 43.4 metric tons (nearly 100,000 lbs), does not include the cost of labor (this is where an extensive pool of robot slave labor comes in handy), nor does it include the cost of the infrastructure needed to support the machine once you are ready to climb aboard and take it for a walk.

Estimated cost of Gundam parts:

ITEM UNIT COST QTY COST
Aluminum alloy (honeycomb) $1,800 43,875 $79,000,000
(+ Metal manufacturing/processing) $240,000,000
Main computer (IBM) $1,550,000 1 $1,550,000
Gas turbine engines (GE) $52,000,000 7 $364,000,000
Superconductive motors (IHI) $260,000 30 $7,800,000
Motor drivers $260,000 30 $7,800,000
Reducers $760,000 30 $22,800,000
Sensors $910,000
Cockpit $450,000
TOTAL: $724,310,000

Note that unlike in the anime, the Gundam described here would merely be able to walk — it would not have the ability to fly or have any fancy weaponry. Also, instead of Gundanium, the robot would be covered in aluminum alloy plating.

Gundam -- An IBM Blue Gene supercomputer would serve as the Gundam’s computer system ($1.5 million sounds like a steal), and its movements would be driven by 30 giant 400KW motors — 12 in the legs, 2 in the torso, 14 in the arms, and 2 in the neck. A 400KW motor is quite powerful — by comparison, some Shinkansen bullet trains use 300KW motors. The motors alone would cost $7.8 million, but to power them would require the equivalent of 7 Apache helicopter engines (the helicopters cost an estimated $52 million each).

While $700 million is a lot of money (more than the GDP of Liberia, Grenada and a dozen or so other nations), it does not seem like so much when you compare it to the cost of other large-scale machinery. Military tanks costs around $4 to $7 million each, commercial passenger planes cost around $200 to $300 million, rockets can cost around $100 million to launch, expensive fighter jets can cost billions, and aircraft carriers cost about $5 billion.

A robot of this size and stature would face a number of physical challenges, such as the inability to walk without completely destroying the ground surface beneath its feet. When humans walk, we exert about 1.5 times our body weight of pressure on the ground (and on our feet) with each step. This poses a huge problem for a 43-ton humanoid, which would probably need to have very wide feet (to distribute the pressure over a larger area) and walk very very slowly. Dinosaurs found a way to get around, though, so giant robots probably can, too.

But perhaps the greatest challenge of all would be to find the funding for an enormous walking machine with no apparent practical or military application. With no money, this Gundam will forever remain just a dream.

[Source: SciencePortal]

105 Responses to “$725,000,000 Gundam”

  1. some people should have all their money taken away so that they don’t buy stupid stuff like materials for a gundam

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  2. Dragonclaws

    What they should do is invite loads of people to donate to them, maybe give some percentage to charity. There’s loads of nerds out there willing to contribute to something like this.

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    Synthex

    Wow…were you even thinking on a critical level when you came up with that scheme? I PRAY that you are not an insurance agent. LOL, imagine that!!! Entrepeneur: Hi nerd! Do you like gundams? wanna donate for a giant one? we will give some of it to charity! Nerd: Sure, how much? Entrepeneur: Oh not much, whatever u can. We need 725 million to make it. Nerd:<—heart attack. Whose gonna spend money on dumb things like that? Unless ur getting NASA to fund that crap, i recommend u get a brain and not come up with bad ideas.

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  3. Rasa

    If it’s not made of gundanium, it’s not worth building. Just sayin’, is all.

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    SchizophrenicMC

    Why does everyone keep bringing up Gundanium? That was Wing! This is 0079! It’s Lunar Titanium…

    So, build it of titanium. Better than silly, old aluminum.

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  4. …just, I love you Japanese ;)

    “Mom, can I have one more piece of cake. This damn giant robot took it away…” ;)

    cheers

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  5. Probably a little pricey for most :>{

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  6. JH

    looking for prospective sponser for the life-sized gundam?
    heres your chance. contact joon hoe treat pte ltd at CEO [ @ ] JHtreatpteltd.com

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  7. tehmoe

    its so frikin possible now. they would easily reduce the cost a couple hundred million if they made it into 45 ft or 40 ft rather than the 60ft originally. i mean if every anime fan in the world donated like 100 dollars it could happen. i mean bill gates could do it if he wanted to its not that much money(when i say this i mean a total accumulation of all the money in the world or possibly the billions wasted on nukes tanks guns and bullets…)
    i mean what if the world had to the fact that gundams are the future way of fighting… i would pilot one!

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    tu

    well, seeing as that it costs about 400 thousand USD to train one individual US infantry soldier (not specialized), how much do you think it would cost to train a specialized pilot and specialized technicians to fix it whenever it gets dingged up? add that to the cost of the mahcine in total and you’ve got yourself one big need of stimulus package.

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  8. evana

    In my opinion,to build large full scale gundam will be a freak enough for the pocket of share holder. But if the scale is downsized and replacing by easier design it probably will be true.

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    tu

    true, probably about 20-30 feet high. and with our new carbon fiber and polymer materials it will be very light and resiliant.

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    SchizophrenicMC

    The thing you described would not be a Gundam. It would be some other mech. Maybe a Knightmare Frame, from Code Geass. They’re 15-20 feet tall.

    Gundams are 18 or so meters tall. 60 feet. Not this “smaller” crap.

    Now, what I think is ridiculous is a full-scale White Base to go with it.

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  9. blah

    This is rather absurd. The costs for modern war machines is not for the parts, most of it is for development costs, which takes anywhere from 5 - 10 years with hundreds of engineers and millions of dollars in purpose built equipment. The billions of dollars the US government pays for those stealth bombers is to recoup the development costs. If it would cost $730million for the parts for a Gundam, the costs of engineering the design and building it all from scratch would probably run in the 10s of billions or more.

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  10. CyberStrike

    I would put it in the low billions range, On top of making it smaller and replacing the Aluminium with Carbon fibre.

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  11. lololol

    I can’t decide whether to buy this or the zoid. I have no idea what to spend this money on.

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  12. joe

    *Sigh* you dumbass you forgot some key facts I mean yes it will cost allot of money but walking slowly big feet HA look your feet they not wide or huge to take away force when we walk we have something. *I forget what is called* that absorbs some of our body weight when we walk I mean come on. LOOK AT THE SCIENCE jeez planes lets look at planes shall what do plane’s have…give up?
    SHOCK ABSORBERS when a plane lands it bends down cuz of the shocks and force and weight hmmm now lets take those away what would happen?
    it would crash boom fire dead people when a mobile walks the shocks in the feet and legs absorb the pressure ok now then leeeets look at ourselves ok what would happen if we jump from a high place like a tree if we didn’t bend down what would happen?……give up?
    We would end up breaking our legs it be painful really painful so when a mobile suit jumps and lands the shocks in the feet and legs well absorb a lil bit of pressure plus it will bend down to absorb more I mean. YES it will leave a mark BUT not as big of mark or hole Jesus look at the science BEFORE you write something like this. And the jets are possible but that needs more time and you forgot something THE CAMARAS how do you see out there are quite a few camera’s big ones I will tell you were they are hidden IN PLAIN SIGHT. There are 3 or 4 fore in one eye so there altogether are 6 or 8 cameras in 2 eyes put together. And 2 in the head 1 big one in the front and in the back what did you think that crust was running along his head some decoration ya now for every part on a mobile suit it has a use it not all for decoration. Well before I keep talking bout how it works and everything it needs how it moves ETC ETC ETC so in conclusion look at the science learn how it works BEFORE you make some shit up on how you think it works.

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  13. s0nicstr1fe

    Hey Joe,

    How about learning how to spell before you explain the “science” of an animated robot.

    “THE CAMARAS how do you see out there are quite a few camera’s big ones I will tell you were they are hidden IN PLAIN SIGHT.”

    Camaras? HIDDEN in PLAIN SIGHT?!

    Oh noes…

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  14. VoltaParabol

    JUMPJETS!!! a mech with out jumpjets is retarded, if np jumpjets how about some chain guns or something…anyhow thats pretty cool

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  15. VoltaParabol

    oh yea this guy talking about “the science” your gay…you must have alot of time to think about this gay shit, pussy.

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  16. Entropy

    While I don’t like how joe exposed it, there something in there that are true.

    For a robot like that to move, would be needed someting like the pneumatic chambers of a car’s wheel in both the foots.

    of course, just that wouldn’t make it, but it’s a start…

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  17. Erixxx

    How about a smaller type Gundam with hover ability’s. Lightweight aromored core where the cockpit would be for speed (no head). The weak armor could stop heavy machine gun fire for a while. The CPU would have to detect rpg fire and other rockets and control evasive moves automatically . The costs of engineering the design and building wouldn’t have to be too much being that all parts are in use today. Half-hover craft with (boosters, or jumpjets!) half-tank with arms!! Programming the CPU could be hard.I think speed is the answer.

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  18. THE GUNDAM HEAD IS LIKE THE COOLEST PART OF A Gundam…….. and soon i think the army mite consider gundams as a way to get rid of there enemys quicker. With all this technologe it wouldnt be that hard to build a gundam…… it still would take alot of time and money. But in 20 or 30 years they just make consider it. I would love to be in the cockpit of a gundam. I would maybe join the army then.

    P.S I read on a newspaper online that some nation are considering it.

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  19. Sage

    Well currently sense there is no real use for Gundams what they should do is make a smaller type Mecha machine with the use of Track wheels that would be less exspensive and more movable.It should be piloted by 2 people ,a driver and a shooter. With this project they could use it as a foundation. Using this would lower the price by at least 30million. (just a suggestion) Instead of using this Machine for a War weapon it could start as a new type of League. This would take years upon years to happen but like i said (just a suggestion)

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    packard

    It’s called a tank bud…..

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  20. or except for making it like 60ft tall make it like 30 or 40 feet tall that might leave some money 4 weapons and jets.

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  21. Austin

    @Anon
    >>Is it just me, or does anyone else >>think giant walking robots are a >>huge military liability?…

    I’ve been thinking too much about this, and i think a solution involving nanophase materials instead of standard aluminum would both lighten the the entire superstructure, redically increase armor/durability, as well as it being a nanaophase material makes it a prime candidate for translucentcy. Giving it the ability to leverage present light reflection, and admittedly low-grade “invisibility” techniques involving projecting, or reproducing the terrian behind to yield adapotive camoflage (already in use on many tanks). As far as the legs being vulnerable i think they would be designed with that flaw in mind, and would have several reactive technologies to counteract attacks which focus on that area. And other area’s. The design can be engineerd to withstand the majority of projecticle weaponary (like a tank) with little to no damage. Active/Intelligent projectices involving sometype of computer system tech can be either targeted and destoryed in advance, or reduced to a “regular” projectile with a EMP type weapon that triggered off some type of proximity detection. those aren’t *all* of the way or ideas, just a few that i came up with quickly.

    Also the pricing on these parts are reflecting the highest potential price in many cirumstances, and a rather low tech approach to solving design problems. Something like this would most likely call for atomic batteries or a micro-nuclear reactor like the one toshiba’s building

    so Nano materials give us super armor and a moderate degree of camoflage
    intelligent engineering gives us enchanced resistence to obvious attacks; enhanced active and passive protection against “intelligent” attacks, and potentially far greater agility and range than any other ground based military technology.

    As for taking a direct hit; the armor could be dseign with an overlapping plating system for a. increased mobility and dexterity, and b. to recapture engergy used to push the armor plates forward or backward… The only way i can think of to describe this tech is some colleges, grocery stores, and malls have doors with energy reclmation motors attached to them; you’ll notice it because it’s harder to open the doors, and you can almost feel or hear a motor type grinding or vibration when you open the door. These are hooked to batteries, which are charged when you open the door, and assist in powering the automatic/handicapped doors in an almost altruistic symbyosis of energy reclamation. I envision the same tech recapturing the Force of a projectile exploding, or “hitting” the armor which instead of denting the armor, pushes it inward, driving the reclamation motor, absorbing the force of impact, and recharge battieries of sometype on the Mecha either for EMP or other energy related activities.

    as crazy as it sounds, what i’m describing is not far-fetched. It’s leveraging existing cutting-edge technology to create a truly desirable war machine that any government or paraniod billionare would be proud to own in the worst case scenario.

    xaustinx@gmail.com

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  22. THATS WHAT I was sayin

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  23. in diffent words it reallt wouldnt be a big deal for all those billionares. An if the army really wants to win wars they should follows austins idea of building a gundam.

    (other nations are already doin it)!!!!!!!

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  24. GST90

    Fun article. I do think a giant robot (mobile suit) of this size would be both awkward and expensive. A couple of people brought up some interesting points, though. A smaller machine would be cheaper to produce as well as more practical. The original mobile suits shown in the anime was developed for space combat. Their size was probably due to both the size of their powerplants as well as to need to carry anti ship weapons. Their humanoid shape was just a hold over from the heavy space suits that they evolved from. Later in the show, mecha even abandoned the human form.

    If an incarnation of the giant robot/mobile suit were to make an appearance as an actual piece of military hardware I would think it would be much smaller in size. Our modern type of warfare would dictate something we could air drop from a C-17. It would be able to survive small arms, rpg’s, IUD’s etc. Like our current tanks they would thermal sensors, night vision smoke dischargers, etc but in a package that was more suited for urban combat. 60 foot mobile suit, isn’t necessary, but maybe a 10-20 foot tall mech to breakdown doors and support infantry… I could see that happening in our lifetime.

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  25. gundam

    if they could build that im sure im the first to ride it :)

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  26. Passion

    I know it would suck to see an actual Gundam that cant fly or
    have cool weapons or no Gundanium armor but just to see
    an actual real Gundam walking around would be cool. So i say
    to get everyfan thats a fan of Gundam to contribute a little
    bit of there money or anyway possible to help raise money for the project kuz i know there R a Lot of u Gundam fans out there and together the money could be raised!

    yours truly, Mike

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  27. Enormous fighting machines are nice, if they remain confined in fiction. For example watching the new Raptor fighter evolutions is exciting… then I think to price and purpose and go mad. What a bunch of idiots we are!

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  28. I have been interested in electronics for along time , and if you wanted to build one it would cost alot more than that.if you where to ignore a few thousand copyrights and so fourth you could make one with massive amounts of weaponry and enough tactical strength to wipe out a city !

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  29. JALBER83

    For all you nut out there only gundams from the gundam wing series were made of gundanium, all the other were made of titanium.

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  30. White Rose

    Hey JALBER83 actualy starting from Zeta Gundam on they used gundarium alloy its spelled “gundanium” in G Wing its still the same thing!!!

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  31. jeff

    if you’re going to make the gundam any smaller than it already is its just going to turn into a mech… from mech warriors… and i dont think that in the next 20-30-40 years there are going to be any gundams running around shooting the shit out of eachother. it just doesnt make alot of sense to build one when we already have tanks, planes, and ships that can basically take out anything in their sight.

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  32. i want a gundam =)

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  33. that is a lot of money

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  34. NinjaMonkey56

    Call the Rockefellers we want a giant robot built. I mean they have that kind of money why the heck not?

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  35. AD

    Screw it. get the f#$%^in Gov 2 build an army a dat shit so no more
    soldiers get wasted in F%$#%in Iraq..
    God iz so fing ez.

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  36. russell

    my dream as a kid was to design and build a gundam, if any thing, we shouldnt build rx-78 we need to build like heavy arms or just build a basic leo design, not the most complex of gundams but mabey the simpler mobil suit designs. just an idea even if the military had just a leo we could be unstopable,
    another problem would be the pilot, i myself now how gundams and leos work there controls and such. but to train someone that dosnt know how the move and work would be very hard.

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  37. adam

    I may have missed it, but to answer the weight distribution problem for stomping the ground, I pose the question: “Why does it matter?” If you look at the original novels, mobile suits never fought on Earth, (yes I know there was a fight on three colonies, but eh…) and they were meant to be space superiority fighters. So, it’s okay to have all that mass, as long as it’s in space. However, to push that mass around, how much would it cost to have rockets and verniers? I’d see a space faring gundam more practical than one on Earth. It’d be much more maneuverable, faster, and awesome to see in action, even if it wasn’t for military purposes. The whole thing behind Gundam was that close combat was necessary again because radar was effectively disrupted, thus no long range weapons. Soooo, unless Minovsky particles are ever realized, these things don’t seem to have any good military value.

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  38. adam

    well…just looked above me again, and someone kind of brought it up…

    oh wellz

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  39. Ky Kiske

    rx-78-2 isn’t the best of the best if you look at the (future gundams) that doesn’t mean that it can’t be done aside from that no matter what is said about building at least one rich or not it will be built w/or w/out we want or desire to have b/c someone/somebody will find it useful for self gain or dare i say it to rule the world in the end does it really matter what we want contact me at goldwarmachine2003@yahoo.com if you want to talk about futher

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  40. SR-71 Black Bird

    I actualy have been coming up with ways to solve large scale humanoide robotics scines i first saw gundam wing. I’m a mechanical engineer and i find it vary posible to make a mobile suit that is 15-20 tall running on cold fusion reactors. with almost the same ’scale’ mobability as a nomal human. with weapons of course. but it would not have anything uh humanly posable other than that like the suits in halo. It would be possible to make something like this by streching your resources for near 2 million dollars. And if i got the money i would definatly design it for free. or i can wait till im a rich ceo :). Im sirious about the lst part ;).

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    SchizophrenicMC

    That wouldn’t be a a Gundam, that would be a Knightmare Frame, a la Code Geass.

    If it’s not 60+ feet tall, it’s not a Gundam… Okay, 59+ feet.

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  41. SR-71 Black Bird

    after rechecking my figures it would be that price for a 8-15ft tall suit.

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  42. Pwnage

    hey, im a gundam 00 fan… but i still think it’d be impossible to find anyone who would design one of these for 725 mil in the first place.. i mean, there are so many better things you can accomplish with that much money…

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  43. CODY

    I think we could do it for a lot less than that and make it work perfect and to thous who say Gundams are nothing but large targets on the battlefield on an open battlefield yes that may be but think of in a city. Also think of possible construction applications weather it be on earth or in space the U.S. is suppose to build a base on the moon think of how much a MS could help speed up that task and don’t even think gundam at first think zaku or along thous lines. basic is where you start you cant jump to the end in time we will have gundams or so but start small robotics gets better and better everyday some thing new happens. don’t misunderstand me it will cost alot but not as much as is being discussed here

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  44. MATT

    It can not be denied that a Gundam at the level of those on the shows would be pretty much unstopable when put up against anything that is used in ground warfare today, but by the time that even a prototype of that quality was produced I would bet that ground warfare would be outdated. All war in the future ,with any countrys that have power, will probably be solved with threats and nukes (if it got that far) there is no honor in war now days “Sir we have a chance we may lose.” “screw it, kill um all!” the only place that it may find use is a battle between a superpower(only places with the money to have such weapons) and third world countrys (the places that superpowers want to control not destroy). so unless there was realy something like an N jammer cancler (from gundam seed) then i do not think that anyone will bother. But I do hope that they will come about, as well as the N jammer because although i dont like war to begin with, I do find the thought of Nukes as very disrespectful and mecha as much more honorable, if that is a thing that anyone beleaves in anymore. So if it does happen there will be many circumstances surounding it not just its production.

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  45. KB

    On a side note about cost, the 400KW motors seem to cost more then I would think. A 400KW is the same as a 500-550HP AC motor. The AC motors today can be purchased for about $75K, thats for a vector duty variable torque variable speed motor. Thats list price, wholes sales about .55-.75 multiplier. There would be a handful of support CPU and controllers. The power source could be the M-1 Abrams turbine that puts out 1500KW and is multi-fuel. Still there are weapons of war that have proved their effectiveness and I do not think a gundam would out maneuver and out pace a tank, or chopper. Artillery alone would lay waste to any targets with in they range. Also, the weight problem, can be helped by using shock absorbers when in motion, yet there is still the fact that the mechas entire weight will be distributed all on one foot, during action. In cities that would be not be possible, b/c of city infrastructure, like sewage’s, water, power, transit, and even under ground tanks for fuel, water, waste etc. These structures would collapse under the weight. Thats one of the reasons tanks dont go driving down the road in Central Park…lol…take it light.–KB

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  46. sora3218

    I believe that we should not use a turbine engine and go with a compact nuclear fusion drive (even though it is still in the process of being built) if use of such a energy source then the gundam can do way more then just walk or even fly. The gundam should use some of the ideas already put forth form other gundam shows as the phase shift armor from seed/seed destiny, which i think would be possible to make. The controls should be half physical manipulation of controls and mental, there is already being work done on the use of the brain for control of a computer by just thinking. I dont see a gundam as a possibility but as it will happen in the next 10-15 years. If not by a government or country but by a person with the will.

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  47. Remi

    all i got to say is it would be way awsome if they can make a real one. gundam is better then transformer.

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  48. gouf

    s0nicstr1fe just shut your mouth, you ignorant jerk… The mobile suits can’t be constructed in real life, at least for now, but most technologies of the Gundam Saga have pratical uses like space colonies, skintight space suits, beam technology…there are many possibilities, ASSHOLE!

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  49. RankaChan

    Well, this is just a suggestion. What if we started with just a small Gundam, say, like a little action figure serving as a prototype and put in the IBM,Superconductive motors, Gas turbine engines, etc and see if it works, solve the problems to make it faster, and hover in the air and then work our way up to a to a real - life Gaint Gundam?

    ~~~~RankaChan~~~

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  50. asdasd

    well….if is destrutive the military will probobly buy it…but it sucks…you can’t actually shoot laser beam or have a life saber or any other of the crap they do…..and gundam is a large scale thing..so one cannon through the stomach is gone….if they are going to build some weapon it won’t look that cool it will just be like a round ball thing that can shoot cannon 360 around…..and gundam won’t be so flexible in real life…is hard to control their finger…it is an impossiblee dream…but if japanese are cool enough to build one for show then is cool…hope they build one for parade or show..

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  51. Jesse

    I’m sorry but I don’t see a gundam being made anytime soon. Even if it was mechs like in mech warrior would be the most plausable. Yea nanotechnology is to the answer to almost all of it but they can only do so much with what they have. They can’t make nano tubes made large scale enough to fill one dental floss container yet… I’ve always dreamed of building a mech but hey I’m 19 and shoeing horses for a living.

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  52. sora3218

    to say somthing is imposinle is to close your mind, to what could happen. Yes there are alot of problems with the gundam and it may take even more then 20 years, but if u know how, shouldn’t it be done. But as a huge gundam fan I am, the only real use it was ever designed for was to kill people, no more no less, now tell me could u pull the trigger on someone else? It is really only a weapon. But it CAN be done.

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  53. DJRICH- Just made my first MILLION!

    I would join the army if they had gundams or Zoids.

    Speakin of Zoids do you guys think its more possible to Build A zoid than a Gundam!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I LOVE BOTH ZOIDS AND GUNDAMS!!!!!!!

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  54. xx02Zangetsu20xx

    kk seriously think about this……..it would cost a total of four commercial airplanes roughly to build one gundam….but imagine if one was built and then armed with nuclear weapons……in a matter of months the world would be under the control of any one person who controlled a gundam…..and considering the technology we possess today it would not be hard to have such a thing happen…….so I seriously hope someone builds one…..and I know I am the craziest of crazies but I want to pilot it!

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  55. DAniel

    I SO EXICITED JAPAN IS BUILDING A GUNDAM, Takayuki Furuta, Director of the Future Robotics Technology Center in Chiba, Japan is building 1!

    Check this Link-
    http://gunota.info/index.php/2008/04/05/plans-to-build-a-real-life-60-foot-tall-gundam/

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  56. bo

    bill gates has enough money and i say build it with a jetpack so it can fly or even hover annnd with guns and lasers

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  57. Robert

    Aluminum? Don’t be cheap. The Gundam is meant to take hits like a beast, that’s the whole reason it’s a GunDAM. The real Gundam used “lunar titanium alloy” but I don’t think we’ve done anything with the moon’s metals so use real titanium alloy instead (if that’s more capable as armor).

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  58. Lynx

    Carlos Owens, google it, you’ll see what his up to.

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  59. Phase Shift

    Talking about armor…..I was curious to some gundam technologies and one that struck me was phase shift armor from Gundam seed. Now of course in Gundam Seed, it was complete BS with the colors, BUT actually in reality Phase Shift Armor is somewhat a reality. The armor is called Electrical Reactive Armor (ERA)

    Conventional RPGs, Armor Piercing Rounds, and other “shape charge” munitions derive their destructive power from cones of copper embedded in their noses. When the warhead explodes, it crushes the cone, shooting out a jet of hot copper at 5,000 mph — instantly destroying anything short of a tank.

    This armour is made up of two or more conductive plates separated by some space or by an insulating material, creating a high-power capacitor. In operation, a high-voltage power source charges the armour. When an incoming body penetrates the plates, it closes the circuit to discharge the capacitor, dumping a great deal of energy into the penetrator, which may vaporize it or even turn it into a plasma, significantly diffusing the attack. The copper ions from the Armor piercing rounds are positive so the electrons from the capacitor will basically neutralize the copper. The amount of energy it takes to maintain this ERA is actually about as much energy it takes to turn on your car on a cold day. There are more details here: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2002/08/54641

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    SchizophrenicMC

    That’s not the Phase Shift principle, that’s the Reactive Armor principle.

    Phase Shift works by running a current through a nano-particle layer on the armor. When physical objects strike the super-hardened nano-particle layer, no damage is caused because of the harder properties of this layer. However, if a high-energy object, such as a particle beam, contacts it, it disrupts the current and the particles can’t defend against it.

    In theory, the physics back it up, but it has yet to be tested or applied.

    [Reply]

  60. SolitarySwordsman

    I think with today’s technology, we’re still too far behind to create a full-working/fighting gundam. And with all honnesty, I think building a Gundam in aluminium is absolutely ridiculous. We might as well do it in cardboard.
    That being said, for better stability and improved mobility, I would rather go for the Bacow’s structure. (from Gundam Seed) with its 4 legs, it wouldn’t require so much balancing, would eliminate the danger of having it falling over, and having a near-1 Billion$ *Ka-Boom*
    Personally, I think until we can figure out Thermal-Energy Weapon Technology, building a Gundam would be no better than building a stand-up tank.

    [Reply]

  61. Zekk67

    The cost is according to present cost. As we all know prices of certain parts do get cheaper over time. However, I do not believe we will ever see a working gundam in our lifetime or our children’s lifetime. And to those who claims to be the first to pilot a gundam, wait in line. There are millions of people who wants that job and all of them are lining up behind me! lolz

    [Reply]

  62. god

    rasa gundarium already exists its actual name is titanium or luna titanium we got that on earth and possibly in outer space and it uses hilium type 3 as as it’s fuel found on earth naturally and on jupiter

    [Reply]

  63. Lalo

    I’m working on Blue Prints for a Mobile Suit And Let Me tell you; The world does not yet have the technology to fully complete one of these machines. With the way the world is right now, we can probably fund money to get one started and put some people back to work, then maybe it would help stimulate the economy to further our technological research and acquire the proper knowledge to fulfill one. It would be ridiculous if our world did turn to Mobile Mobile Suits for acts of war.

    [Reply]

  64. Spengler

    Dont’be naive, plz.

    1) money are not a problem. as long as the military are involved, whatever amount of money will be affordable. Also Japanese would spend whatever amount to create a real robot: they have been spending BILLIONS each year to research robot construction and they won’t stop for any reason.

    2) early prototypes of neurohelmets have popped out lately. sooner or later we’ll be able to control any machine with our sheer thoughts. obviously the perfect machine to move would be a replica of our body. a walking robot with human features would be an incredibly powerful weapon.

    Maybe there’s no need to have it 18 meters tall, but I bet someone is gonna make a real Gundam sooner or later!

    [Reply]

  65. Shinsei

    18 metros^^

    Esse e so para comemorar o aniversario de Gundam,ouvi boatos q o exercito japones estao criando um sistema gundam e o proprio Gundam para defesa do pais,e tambem vao usar para outros meios !!!!!!!!

    [Reply]

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