Few things titillate the internet quite like a robot — as Kawasaki has proven once again with an ambitious new design concept.
The Japanese company arrived at the Expo 2025 Osaka this weekend with several creative ideas for the future of mobility, including a robot horse. Kawasaki’s “Mobile Instincts” pavilion at the international design event highlighted CORLEO, an electric horse powered by a hydrogen engine.
There’s no real footage of this very early prototype, which won’t actually become available until, in theory, 2050 — at the earliest. But, Kawasaki did release a concept video using CGI rendering. It depicts a dreamlike landscape reminiscent of fantastical Japanese video games, and filled with robot horse riders gingerly riding through an Alps-like mountain range.
It should come to no one’s surprise that this immediately captured the internet’s imagination. I mean, it’s a robot that leverages Kawasaki’s motorcycle expertise and advanced robotics to create a techno-steed capable of traversing rugged terrain. What’s not to love?
And hey, if they make less noise and cause less environmental destruction than side-by-sides — I say bring on the robot horsies.
CORLEO: Almost Equine
While CORLEO may look a bit far-fetched, Kawasaki has clearly put real thought into what it oh-so-humbly describes as the next stage in the evolution of human mobility.
The “hooves,” for example, are made of rubber to handle diverse terrain like “grasslands, rocky areas, and rubble fields,” Kawasaki said on its website. It’s also got metal “stirrups” for mounting and dismounting, and a rear swing arm that supposedly helps absorb shocks.
As for actually controlling the thing, Kawasaki envisions controls that would be similar to riding actual horses. They want riders to control CORLEO through “weight shifts detected by steps and handlebars.” Optimal posture is maintained by adjusting the length of the “stirrup.”
It will also have a 150cc hydrogen engine for power generation. The hydrogen comes from a canister mounted at the rear, and will power drive units installed in each of the four legs.
An instrument panel will display the level of remaining hydrogen, a route to your intended destination (which apparently can include mountain summits), and your center of gravity, among other data. Kawasaki even wants to include a nighttime function that projects markers onto the road surface to indicate the path.
The only thing missing is a robotic whinny. When can we expect a horse voice, Kawasaki? After all, you’ve got 25 years to tinker this design into reality. By that time, it better come with an AI horse personality with optional snark and sarcasm.
If we can’t get Eddie Murphy on board for a Shrek donkey voice, what’s the point?
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