Tech
You may soon be able to pilot this 9000-pound, functional mech suit
The Prothesis is a four-legged mech suit straight out of Pacific Rim that's been described as a cross between a trophy truck, an excavator, and a dinosaur.
If you ran an engineering firm capable of building anything from your childhood fantasies, a mech suit like something out of Pacific Rim might be one choice. And that's exactly what Furrion made — its Prosthesis is a fully-functional, 9,000-pound mech suit operated solely by the movements of your hands and feet.
Furrion co-founder Jonathan Tippett said in a video that the Prosthesis is "basically a cross between a trophy truck, an excavator, and a dinosaur."
This suit is no joke. It has four giant legs to keep it stable, and Furrion says the thing has a claw on the front capable of lifting up a car — so you no longer have to wait behind other cars at Taco Bell, of course. Is it scary? Yes? But is it cool? Definitely. We wonder what kind of chaos you could create if you engineered some of those limbs to have their own pairs of claws.
Become a mech pilot — Fortunately, the company has good intentions with Prosthesis. It actually wants to build more of them so that it can form a "global racing league" that would pit athletes against each other in the suits, navigating through complex obstacle courses. It's truly a young boys fever dream.
To fund such an endeavor, Furrion is hosting a Kickstarter campaign where you can pay for the opportunity to receive in-person, one-on-one training in the suit. Apparently operating it takes some getting used to, so the company is offering three-day training camps to the highest bidders.
If mech racing ends up becoming a new sport, you can say goodbye to football. Who doesn't want to go on a ride in one of these?
