I’m not going to pretend that this isn’t cool, because it definitely is. But also, why?
I can’t help feeling that this headless robotic horse, which Kawasaki says is now headed for production, will largely be a plaything of the rich. Perhaps it will become a litmus test of sorts: a means of spotting an a**hole from a long way off.
“Hey, look: a headless robo-horse. Ah, yes, now that it’s getting closer I can see that the rider is Jeff Bezos.”
First introduced at the 2025 World Expo (back in April of last year), the robo-horse is called the Corleo. Kawasaki pitches it as a “revolutionary off-road personal mobility vehicle” that is designed for tackling particularly difficult terrain.
“While preserving the joy of riding, the vehicle continually monitors the rider’s movements to achieve a reassuring sense of unity between human and machine,” declares Kawasaki. “Scale mountains, breathe in the fresh air, and enjoy panoramic views.”
The AI-generated video that Kawasaki created for this thing is mildly terrifying, but clearly shows that Kawasaki is aiming to create a four-legged, animal-like vehicle that is largely steered by the shifting of rider weight – similar to the way you ride a horse.
(For those of you who have never ridden a horse, actually pulling on the reins is a great way to get it to NOT do what you want. Instead, it’s more of a symbiotic relationship, with the reins largely being used as a means of suggestion: “Hey, my 550kg friend, I was thinking we could go that way…”)
”The four legs are equipped with hooves featuring a left-right divided structure made of rubber,” explains Kawasaki. “These hooves can adapt to various terrains, including grasslands, rocky areas, and rubble fields.”
The vehicle will reportedly use AI to help accomplish all this.
Kawasaki is pitching this as a means of exploring the farthest away of faraway places, but I can’t help thinking there’s a snag in that plan: the vehicle’s fuel source. The Corleo will be driven by a 150cc hydrogen engine, which generates electricity to operate the legs. Hydrogen canisters are stored in the rear of the robo-horse, behind its haunch.
As I’ve mentioned before, hydrogen power is problematic on small, personal vehicles for all kinds of reasons, not least of which being the dearth of refuelling stations. Even if the world were to radically change and adopt hydrogen stations in the same number as EV charging stations, or even petrol/gas stations, it would still be problematic because faraway places are usually far away from infrastructure.
Kawasaki doesn’t say that the hydrogen canisters are removable/swappable (I don’t even know if that’s possible with hydrogen vehicles), so it’s not like you could just pack some spare ones in your saddlebags. As such, I’d reckon that the real-world range of this robo-horse isn’t that much better than an actual horse.
All of this contributes to a deep confusion about who Kawasaki thinks it will sell the Corleo to. I mean, how many use cases can there be for this machine? It’s like a Segway for pristine environments.
Nonetheless, Kawasaki is committed. So much so that it plans to introduce the Corleo far sooner than initially thought. When the Corleo was first introduced last April, Kawasaki pitched it as something for the 2050s. Now it says it plans to put the vehicle into production 20 years earlier: in 2030.
I guess I’d better get on the ball in putting together a business proposal for a rental location at the foot of Yr Wyddfa (For those of you playing along outside the UK, Yr Wyddfa is the tallest mountain in Wales and it is plagued with tourists; there are often 20- to 50-minute queues to reach the top).
What’s wild is that Kawasaki is not alone in trying to create dystopian robot animals. At the Japan Mobility Show back in October, Suzuki unveiled its very similar MOQBA 2. What a time to be alive.
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