Video: 20-Meter Japanese Robot Weighs Only 1.2Kg

Robots are traditionally thought of as these heavy, clunky machines. However, there is a robot in Japan that can extend its body to a whopping 20 meters in length but actually weighs about as much as a big cat. The machine resembles a very long appendage that looks like it could belong to a gigantic insect.

The robot arm was introduced by researchers at the Suzumori Endo Lab, which is housed in the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Futurism reports. The machine is not only able to reach the 20 meters or 65 feet of length sideways, it can also reach upwards at full extension, which immediately presents some significant potential uses.

Informally known as the Giacometti Arm, which is taken from Alberto Giacometti who is known for his spindly works of art, the machine is practically only made up of inflatable materials. Basically, its structure is a series of balloons, frequently interrupted by joints. In order to make it easier for the machine to contract and extend at will, the balloons are also filled with helium.

The most obvious reason for this is taking the combined weight of the joints, servos, and wires into account, which would impede the robot from reaching maximum extension. Technabob says as much on its coverage of the robot, saying that using anything heavier than the synthetic muscles would have made it harder for the appendage to move.

Thanks to the flexible nature of the materials used, setting up the machine is as easy as taking it out of its container and then pumping it full of the gas until it is full. Once that happens, it’s just a matter of controlling it every which way the user wants. After use, the whole contraption could be deflated, folded, and could even fit into the trunk of any car.