Transformers-inspired robot rolls out green message in Vietnam

PHOTOS: AFP

There is more to this towering robot resembling a character from the “Transformers” movies than the auto-parts it’s made from – it speaks Vietnamese and is made from unused motorbike parts.

“Hello everyone … I am from Vietnam,” Robot One announces as it swivels side to side in a Hanoi workshop.

A team of IT programmers and students say they want to provoke debate about the scourge of discarded and unused autoparts in a city where nearly six million motorbikes hit the streets daily. Hanoi officials vowed in 2017 to ban motorbikes from roads by 2030 to ease pollution and congestion woes (yeah, good luck with that).

Newly-graduated engineer Do Danh Phong, a member of the informal Robot Bank group said their team made the robot in order to send a message to everybody, “let’s protect the environment”.

Inspired by the warring robots in Michael Bay’s “Transformers” movie franchise, Robot One was cobbled together from the remnants of Japanese Honda and Taiwanese SYM motorbikes.

The 100 kilogram and three-metre high Robot One is controlled by a PlayStation joystick, can make simple moves and utter some basic phrases. At this stage it’s unlikely to be attacking anyone or ‘transforming’ into a yellow Chevrolet Camaro. Its creators had to scour autocrats and junk shops to pull together the right selection of parts to give it the same muscular frame as the robots in the movie.

Robot One is the first of many, the team says, with dreams of creating a robot park in the capital one day.

SOURCE: Agence France-Presse