Gundam robots based on plans from a school in Tohoku region will be on prowl in Osaka! Images, Full Info
OSAKA: Three towering robots similar to the popular anime character “Mobile Suit Gundam” will appear in the downtown area here on Oct. 10 and 11, but local denizens should have no fear of being caught in a futuristic war zone.
The 4.5-meter tall cardboard robots were crafted by students at Higashiyodo Technical High School in Osaka’s Yodogawa Ward.
They learned the techniques from Shiogama High School in Miyagi Prefecture, which had built the robots as a main attraction of its annual cultural festival, before suspending the creation after the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
In October 2011, Yukiko Kamamoto, 34, teacher in charge of a first-year class at the electric engineering faculty of the Higashiyodo school, was thinking about what her students should create for the cultural festival. The budget was 20,000 yen ($184).
Then, she discovered the robot creation program at the Shiogama school on the Internet. She sent an e-mail to the school, asking for instructions on making the Gundam-like robots.
In response, Susumu Ogawa, 60, a teacher in charge of science at the Shiogama school, sent paper templates to Kamamoto that were one-third the original sizes.
Ogawa started the creation of cardboard robots in 2001 as part of education for manufacturing products in a group. Based on plastic models, his students drew blueprints with computer software and then assembled the robots with cardboard. Their heights were about three meters.
The students increased the number of types of robots to 10 through 2010.
After the Great East Japan Earthquake, however, the Shiogama school was closed for one month. The temporary closure deprived the school of classroom time, which forced the creation of robots to be suspended in 2011.
Meanwhile, at the Higashiyodo school’s cultural festival in 2011, the robot captured the award for excellence. In subsequent years, other classes also began to create robots, diversifying their types. Some of the robots had gleaming eyes or weapons. Others had necks that rotated.
Ryoya Horiuchi, 17, a third-year student, created a robot with his friends on a voluntary basis this year.
“I heard that the creation of robots was suspended at Shiogama High School due to the Great East Japan Earthquake,” he said. “I think that the students at the school must have felt chagrined by the suspension.”
Most of the 11 robots created so far by students at the Higashiyodo school have been donated to the Yodogawa Ward office, elementary schools or nursery schools.
To show their robots to the public, the Higashiyodo school applied for the Osaka Canvas 2014, an art event to be held in the bustling Midosuji district from Oct. 9 to 11 by the Osaka prefectural government. Its application was chosen along with five others for the event.
As for the Higashiyodo school’s robots, Ogawa, who is currently working at Tagajo High School in Miyagi Prefecture, is excited about their appearance at the Osaka event.
“I am looking forward to seeing the robots exhibited in central Osaka,” he said.
The robots will be displayed on the first floor of the Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Osaka Midosuji Building in Chuo Ward. Admission is free.
(This article was written by Nahoko Kyotani and Mikako Abe.)
