Hydrogen-powered rideable from Kawasaki has four legs with hooves and can walk, run and jump across uneven terrain
April 12, 2025 at 13:30
- Kawasaki’s new concept explores a radical future direction for motorcycles.
- The hydrogen-fueled mobility robot has four legs with hooves instead of wheels.
- The Corleo is ridden like a motorcycle, but leaps across rough ground like a big cat.
Dedicated off-road and trials motorcycles can do incredible things in the hands of an expert rider, but imagine what they could do with legs instead of wheels. That’s an idea Kawasaki is exploring with its new Corleo concept.
Most of us know the Kawasaki brand through its two-wheeled products, plus its quads and side-by-sides, and maybe its jetskis, too. But less well known is the fact that the Kawasaki Heavy Industries Group also contains a robotics division, and the Corleo represents a merging of those minds.
A Familiar, Yet Strange Ride
Anyone who has tried both a motorcycle and horse will probably be familiar with the riding environment. The seat looks a bit like a saddle from the equine world and there are stirrups slung below the main body structure. Up ahead there’s a set of reins-cum-handlebars in front of a hi-tech digital instrument pack that could have been lifted from an expensive exercise cycle.
But it’s the lower half of the beast where things get a little nutty. Instead of the wheels you’d find on a regular Kawasaki designed for land use, there are a set of legs complete with hooves shod in slip-resistant rubber. And you can forget horses at this point because these legs have more in common with the limbs on a big cat judging from what they can do in the video below.
Related: JLR Employs Robot Dog That Can Hear Gas Leaks And Inspect Plant Machinery
A Hydrogen Engine
Motive power comes from a 150cc hydrogen engine that sends electricity to each leg and enables the Corleo to walk, run and leap across even the most uneven terrain. Riders shift their weight to control it, sensors in the stirrups and bars picking up movement and relaying it to the legs.
Kawasaki says even beginner riders will feel confident because crossing water or climbing over rocks requires non of the expert skills necessary when trying to overcome the same obstacles on a traditional off-road motorcycle. Even nighttime rides shouldn’t be too daunting because the Corleo doesn’t rely on a simple light but projects information onto the ground and the machine actively works out how to handle the terrain for the rider.
The Corleo makes its public debut at the Future Society Showcase Project at the 2025 Japan International Expo, though don’t get to excited about production possibilities. It seems designed to showcase hydrogen power that Kawasaki plans to introduce to its two-wheelers early in the next decade rather than hint at a radically reimagined 2026 Kawakai enduro bike lineup.
But when you look at what four-legged robots from the like of DARPA can already do, it’s not a great leap to imagine we could be riding something like this 20 or 30 years from now. A horse that doesn’t poop? A motorcycle you don’t fall off? Sounds good to us.
Images: Kawasaki
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