Dust off your Stetson and saddle up your… hydrogen tank?
In a twist straight out of a sci-fi western, the wild spirit of Alberta’s cowboy past may soon be trotting into the future with robotic hooves.
That’s because Japanese engineering giant Kawasaki has unveiled ‘CORLEO’ a hydrogen-powered robot horse that could just be the tech-savvy steed Calgary never knew it needed.
Call it Yee-haw meets zero emissions. If history repeats itself, Calgary’s new frontier may be one where cowboys ride clean-tech stallions and Wi-Fi enabled lassos are optional.
And while this futuristic ride isn’t expected to hit the trails until 2050 at the earliest, it’s already got the internet and anyone with a nostalgic weakness for the Old West dreaming of a high-tech cattle drive.
Kawasaki made the announcement at the World Expo “Mobile Instincts” pavilion in Osaka, a tribute to tomorrow’s mobility solutions.
Computer-generated concept footage shows riders navigating misty, mountainous landscapes à la Final Fantasy, but for many back home in Alberta the mind gallops to another image: a modern-day cowboy, loping across the foothills of the Rockies on a silent, eco-conscious robo-steed.
It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. Alberta’s energy sector — long the bedrock of oil and gas — is pivoting toward cleaner alternatives.
Hydrogen in particular is being championed as a promising new fuel source, and Calgary has positioned itself as a hub for this next-gen energy owing to abundant reserves of natural gas to make it.
In that context, the idea of a hydrogen-powered horse roaming Calgary Stampede Park doesn’t seem quite so surreal. After all, what’s the point of being the ‘Heart of the New West’ if you can’t reinvent the horse?
And you don’t have to feed it hay.
But CORELO is more than a flight of fancy; it’s a full-fledged exercise in equine robotics that’s meant to ride like a real horse, capable of climbing mountains, jumping over obstacles and prancing from a trot to a full-bore gallop.
The hooves are crafted from split rubber pads designed for grip and shock absorption. Each leg contains its own drive unit powered by a 150cc hydrogen engine, with a rear-mounted canister feeding fuel cells.
It’s got gyroscopic posture correction, a built-in route map, center-of-gravity tracker, and nighttime path projection for those late-night moonlit trail rides.
And yes, it will apparently be controlled through a combination of handlebars and body weight shifting, just like a real horse.
All that’s missing are the droppings out the tail end.
While CORLEO stole the spotlight in Osaka, it’s worth noting that the Expo itself has a long tradition of shaping the future. The 1970 Expo in the same city introduced the world to touchscreens and mobile phones, so robo-ranching isn’t that much of a stretch.
After that it’s only a matter of time until the Calgary Stampede features a rodeo of robo-horses galloping in perfect algorithmic unison and ensuring the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth lives on into the 22nd Century.
What’s next, rocket-powered boots and laser lassos?
