“My friend, our Pangu Homeland has appeared before you. Now you must admit, we have the opportunity to surpass Bandai and Gundam!” the CEO said with a smile, looking at the fan of Bandai.
“It’s just big, it’s still just plastic. Anyone with money can build it!” the die-hard fan of Bandai retorted immediately. Having spoken for Bandai in front of countless model enthusiasts, this fan knew he couldn’t switch allegiance, or he would continue to be socially embarrassed, so he said disdainfully.
“It’s just a statue made of plastic fixed together, only able to strike a pose in place. Can this be called a robot?”
“Bandai has already built one in Odaiba, Tokyo. It’s just a little smaller. But that’s because the original Gundam’s design is this tall. Otherwise, they could build a hundred-meter-tall Gundam!” The fan became more confident as he spoke. “Besides, you haven’t met my conditions because this is not a real robot at all, it’s just a statue!”
“Moreover, Bandai has already announced new statue plans. Next year, a Unicorn Gundam statue will stand in Odaiba, and that Gundam will also exceed 20 meters!”
Although these words sounded a bit forced, because even a 20-meter Gundam was still a huge gap compared to the over fifty-meter-tall Homeland.
However, what this fan said was not wrong. Whether it was 20 meters or 50 meters, if it was a statue, there wasn’t much difference in manufacturing difficulty, as long as the base was stable enough.
Just as the fan thought he had won, he heard the CEO of Da Ban pick up his terminal again and say, “Alright, since that’s the case, I announce, connect the Pangu Homeland’s power and unlock the second layer of system armor!”
“Ding dong!” Following the CEO’s words, everyone suddenly heard a crisp power prompt sound.
At the same time, at the foot of the Pangu Homeland, over a hundred spotlights were turned on, casting their bright light onto the Pangu Homeland, bathing it in a glorious, divine radiance.
Concurrently, the lights at the foot of the Pangu Homeland lit up first, then the legs, the hip armor, the arms and the chest, and finally the eyes of the Pangu Homeland. More than 60 indicator lights lit up across the entire Pangu Homeland, making the scene look as if a Gundam was truly about to activate.
“It’s just installing some lights on the surface, that’s not a difficult thing…” the Bandai fan began to say, then heard a prompt sound from the site saying, “Starting pre-test 1, head rotation test, rotate 180 degrees to the left.”
As the prompt ended, the head of this Pangu Homeland began to rotate to the left, indeed completing a full 180-degree turn. It was then followed by a 180-degree rotation to the right.
“The head of the original Gundam in Tokyo can also rotate!” the Bandai fan said.
Then he heard the prompt continue, “Head tilt test at 45 degrees downward begins!”
Suddenly, the armor below the Pangu Homeland’s head retracted downwards, revealing the robot’s neck. Following this, the massive head slowly bent downwards, resembling a human looking down at the ground.
“…” The Bandai fan was speechless, as this was a movement the original Gundam in Tokyo absolutely could not perform.
Some of the industry enthusiasts present were stunned by this action. As mechanical engineers, they knew very well how complex the mechanical structure and how powerful the electric motor output needed to be to make such a colossal entity perform such a downward looking movement. The difficulty of this was no less than designing a car. xxs壹贰
But this was only the beginning. Next, the Pangu Homeland also demonstrated the action of tilting its head upwards, and this was still only a test of the head’s movements.
Following this, the arm movements were tested. Again, under the witness of all the audience, the Pangu Homeland slowly raised its left hand, bringing it level with its shoulder. Next, it bent its elbow, and finally, the back of its entire hand touched its shoulder.
This was not all; the final test was for the palm. First, the entire palm performed various bending and rotating movements around the wrist, just like a normal hand. Then, when the five fingers clenched into a fist, it instantly ignited cheers from the entire venue.
At this point, the Bandai fan was utterly speechless. After all, the complete movements of the head and arms could not be explained by the word “statue,” nor could they be explained by Bandai of Fusang.
But this was still just the beginning. After the tests for the head and arms were completed, it was naturally the chest’s turn. First, the two armor plates on the chest unfolded, followed by the forward tilting movement test of the entire chest, which once again sent the audience into a frenzy of cheers.
And when the leg tests began, under the gaze of countless spectators, the Pangu Homeland slowly raised its right leg, presenting a posture of a golden rooster standing on one leg. At this moment, everyone was so shocked they couldn’t speak.
At the same time, a new question arose in everyone’s mind, “Will this thing walk?”
Although the Pangu Homeland had proven to all the spectators at this point that it was not a statue but a robot whose various parts could move.
However, movability and walking were two entirely different things.
Allowing the robot’s various body parts to rotate was one thing, but coordinating all these body parts into a cohesive whole, and thus moving this colossus forward, was an unprecedented challenge.
The problems and parameter calculations involved were too numerous. The most important was how to ensure the robot’s balance.
Especially for this colossus that was over 50 meters tall, any slight movement could cause a huge shift in its center of gravity, leading to the entire robot crashing to the ground, instantly shattering billions of yuan in investment.
This problem was only solved to a certain extent about 10 years ago, when some robot manufacturing companies designed robots that could walk upright.
However, these robots were generally small, about the size of a dog. Even if they fell, they wouldn’t cause much damage. As for this 50-meter colossus in front of them, it was obvious to anyone with a brain how difficult and complex a task it would be.
“My friend, have we managed to build the Pangu Homeland?” the CEO of Da Ban asked the Bandai fan again. The Bandai fan wanted to shake his head, but instead, he inexplicably nodded.
There was nothing he could do. The level of advancement before him was something that Bandai could never achieve, yet Da Ban, a domestic manufacturer, had accomplished it. What face did he have to shake his head?
He thought the conversation would end there, but unexpectedly, the CEO of Da Ban seemed very disappointed by the Bandai fan’s acknowledgment. So, he had no choice but to pick up his personal terminal again and say, “Pre-test completed. I announce, unlock the third layer of free armor and grant the Pangu Homeland the freedom to stand upon this land!”
“There’s a third layer!!!!” Everyone was stunned upon hearing this.
With the second layer of permissions unlocked, the robot could already freely move its body parts. Now that the third layer of restrictions was lifted, did it mean it would really start walking?
Before anyone could figure this out, the CEO of Da Ban on stage simultaneously ordered safety maintenance. A large group of staff rushed out and began to semi-forcibly evacuate all reporters and model enthusiasts from the scene, transferring them to the higher spectator stands of the Bird's Nest.
From there, they were a hundred meters away from the Pangu Homeland in the center of the Bird’s Nest, and the view was naturally far less clear than when they were at its feet.
At first, everyone didn’t quite understand why a mandatory clearance was being conducted. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that the Pangu Homeland, standing alone in the center of the Bird’s Nest, slowly raised its right leg again. However, this time, it didn’t return its right leg to its original position but resolutely stepped forward.
Simultaneously, the entire body of the Pangu Homeland began to move. The various parts of its body seemed to tremble briefly and intensely, as if the entire body would collapse to the ground the next moment.
But miraculously, under this full-body trembling, the Pangu Homeland itself remained as stable as a rock, with no sway whatsoever. It finally took only 50 seconds to complete a perfect stepping motion. The Pangu Homeland’s right foot successfully stepped ten meters forward, and half of its body extended beyond the metal restraining cage that had confined it.
Suddenly, its head turned sharply, its eyes focusing on the spectator stands.
At this moment, everyone in the stands felt as if their hearts were being held in someone’s hand, because they perceived the gaze of this colossus fixed upon them, as if it wished to communicate with them.
This feeling was simply unbearable for their hearts.
However, the head soon turned back, and the left leg also began to prepare to step forward, following the right leg. Unlike the previous step that took 50 seconds, this time it took only about 40 seconds for the left leg to successfully move. With this, the entire Pangu Homeland was completely free from its confining cage and stood outside, having gained its freedom.
At this moment, the Pangu Gundam slowly raised its head and looked at the slanted sun in the sky.
“My God!” More than half of the people in the stands lost their footing and sat down on the ground, staring blankly at the unleashed metal monster.
“The era of science fiction has arrived!” someone muttered to themselves.