Indonesian scientist Pitoyo Hartono is a member of a team behind the construction of a giant Gundam robot in Japan.

The project, titled the Gundam Global Challenge, has the goal of designing an 18-meter Gundam robot capable of movement. Japan’s Waseda University engineering physics professor Shuji Hashimoto, who is also Pitoyo’s mentor, is leading the project.

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"The research in his lab consists of four groups, namely robotics, image processing, sound and musical processing and neural network and artificial intelligence," Pitoyo told tempo.co.

In addition to Hashimoto as leader and Pitoyo Hartono, anime director Yoshiyuki Tomino, film producer Katsuyuki Motohiro and creative technical director Seiichi Saito are also involved in the project.

Pitoyo works as an artificial neural networks professor in the department of mechanics and information at Chukyo University in Japan. He joined the Gundam Global Challenge in 2014 by Hashimoto’s invitation.

Pitoyo completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in 1993 and 1995 at Waseda University. Among his interests is revealing how intelligence can arise in humans and nature through robotics research. (iru/kes)