• Video: Turkish Iron Man SURALP

    Serkan Toto

    Dr. Serkan Toto is an independent consultant and advisor focusing on Japan’s web, mobile and social gaming industries. Based in Tokyo, he works together with financial institutions and startups worldwide. Serkan has been the Japan contributor for TechCrunch.com since 2008. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. → Learn More

    Thursday, October 14th, 2010

    Turkey isn’t really the first country that springs to mind when it comes to robotics, but a research team at the Sabanci University in Istanbul has succeeded in developing what appears to be Turkey’s first humanoid. The so-called SURALP was in the making for eight years, and the university has spent $1 million to get it to its current form.

    The robot just made its first public appearance at a press conference in Turkey where he performed a dance and answered several questions asked by humans with “yes” and “no”. SURALP (Sabancı University Robot Research Laboratory Platform) stands 164cm tall, weighs a whopping 114kg, and boasts 29 joints (12 in his legs, another 12 in his arms, 2 in his neck and one in the torso).

    Here’s a video of SURALP (slowly) walking up an inclined plane. Robotics still has a long way to come up with a movie-level Iron Man, but it’s a first step:

    Via Plastic Pals

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