THE
ALPHA LEG
COMPLETED IN 2015
THE
ALPHA LEG
COMPLETED IN 2015
THE PROTOTYPE LEG
FOR A GIANT MECH SUIT
Inspired by the unique and extraordinary experience of riding and physically operating a giant, powered walking machine, Tippett set his sights on a vision far more audacious – and enormous. A lifelong fascination with dune buggies, dinosaurs and excavators, combined with the trills he experienced snowboarding, mountain biking and riding sport bikes, drove Tippett to embark upon a mission to create an entirely new human experience – the creation of a fully functional, human piloted, powered mech suit.
The Alpha Leg was the first prototype leg for this colossal machine. It served as a development platform for the control system and leg design but it’s primary goal was to answer the question: “Can you operate a giant, powered walking machine, from inside, using an exoskeletal control system, while being rag-dolled around inside it?”
The answer was “Yes! – with the right technology.”. It took 5 years of R&D in the eatART Laboratory, with the help of countless volunteers, nearly a dozen UBC Capstone student teams, scores of in-kind sponsor donations and tens of thousands of dollars of Tippetts own money, Tippett and his team produced the Alpha Leg. It was 2:3 scale version of the legs that would propel his full sized mech suit, now dubbed: Prosthesis: The Anti-Robot. All he needed was funding to bring his dream to life.
Seen at Engadget Expand New York 2013, this video shows Jonathan Tippet controlling The Alpha Leg prototype of Prosthesis.