For a generation raised on Pacific Rim, Gundam, Alien and Transformers, the fantasy has never really left the imagination: being able to climb into a giant mechanical robot suit and walk away in it.
This week, that fantasy stopped being fiction.
Unitree Robotics - the Chinese company that has quickly become one of the world's most prolific robot manufacturers - unveiled the GD01, which is being billed as the world's first production-ready manned transformable mecha.
It's roughly 2.8 metres tall and lets a human pilot climb up and operate it from an open cockpit in its torso. It can walk upright on two legs in humanoid stance or reconfigure its build to move on four legs for rougher terrain.
Promotional footage even shows it smashing through a wall of cinder blocks.
