Luckily this thing looks like it’s going to fall over any minute. This is apparently a Japanese invention. Japan is becoming home of the creepy robot. How about something to do the dishes instead of this monster? The company that designed the robot whose website is here normally makes farming machines.
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Funny that it “shuffles” more than “walks”, but very interesting how it can make tight turns…
It doesn’t seem to harm the concrete/asphalt, but I can’t imagine it being able to maneuver on soft ground.
Would it tip-over if one leg started sinking into soft dirt???
I have to admit, I would love to take it for a spin! I wonder what those people passing by in their cars were thinking??
Cripes. Don’t let this get out into the Homeland Security crowd! Every police department in the country will want one of these.
It would be much more impressive if it actually walked.
Walking requires at least one foot to come off the ground per step, requiring some form of balance.
This seems to just be rolling each leg forward on wheels, or shuffling, and the lack of balance is obvious.
What is this fascination with mechs that the Japanese have. I just see ten high-school kids start shaking the thing like a car in L.A. the thing tumble. Mechs are not going to be the next weapon of choice. Just some fetish like in Japanese video games.
I thought it was funny the way the “guns” shook & swayed as it walked, so I initially thought they were just some tack-welded sheet-metal.
Was I wrong! The work they put into that clip-loaded tennisball “cannon” on the left-side is great.
1 Someone has seen The Empire Strikes Back a few too many times.
… and/or they’ve been playing BattleTech for too long. [grin]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BattleTech
If I remember correctly this is aimed to be something for a theme park where people would go to a site and play. That’s the reason for the rubber balls launchers. I beleive that the speed at which its moving is the top speed.
Well, it’s not a “walker” – it’s on wheels and looks as though even the smallest step up/down would trip it over (which would make for a really funny video). And it hardly counts as a robot, given that it has a human operator, who seems to have a very uncomfortable ride.
The most amazing thing is that it didn’t cause a pile-up of passing traffic – or is this an everyday sight in Japan these days?
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Didn’t someone sell something like that as a peripheral for the Original XBox?
Ya this is more sad than scary, its a big plastic hunk of junk on skates.
-Tom
I figured out something long ago.
Even if you do LOVE the idea of a Mech type, machine.
1.Articulation must me VERY good.
2. the bigger it is, the Easyier it is to drop, knockover..
3. If it were built as Strong as a TANK, it would be to heavy for Most anyplace.
4. they need BIG Flat feet, or they Sink in Dirt, Cant balance well, Narrow feet crack concrete…..
5. hiding such a thing would be almost impossible, as to being so tall.
6. Watch your back door. watch everything behind you, on Every side, and be able to shoot things on your roof, cause a good Pail of paint/ mud can cover your Eyes, and a GOOD chain will drop you.
Now the army guys will want one.
Comming soon on a battlefield near you.
Chee, people, looks like most of you have nothing but contempt for these guys. How pathetic.
#15
I would like to introduce legislation to retire the word pathetic from the language. It’s been used too many times now 🙂
But I don’t think these guys all have contempt… It’s a geek thing. See a design, and figue out everything wrong with it. The underlying motivation is to seek improvements, but it doesn’t always come off that way. Another unfortunate geek trait; the inability to differentiate subjective from objective observations.
Saying they’ve seen Empire too much… Is that contempt or just a playful jab?
16: Point taken. However, shouldn’t we also respect and admire their courage to go out and do such a thing, risking ridicule to be pioneers?
PS: That’s the first time I ever used the p-word, so you can’t retire it yet 🙂
#17
If I’m not mistaken, isn’t this a prototype for a live action Mechwarrior game for an amusement park?
That seems pretty cool to me. 🙂 Frankly, I have a lot of respect for the courage shown by those who certain risk all kinds of ridicule just for being innovative.
I even admire those crazy nutbags who make their own chain mail and play real life D&D at Ren Fairs. But lets never forget, they really are crazy nutbags 🙂
General Unilateral Neuro-Link Dispersive Autonomic Manuver?
I wonder what exactly they did for the bottom of the feet of this – that’d be the real secret.
As any Dr Who fan would tell you, this thing’d be stuffed by what stuffed the Daleks. Stairs!
18: It was used a couple of months back for some Pepsi promotion in Japan. There’s a link there, somewhere.
Specs from the web page:
– 3.4 m high
– weighs 1 ton
– powered by a 250cc engine
– top speed is 1.5 km/h
The centre of gravity is quite high, so it must require fine control to keep it from tipping over. It doesn’t seem to wobble when the operator gets in, so the wobbles come from it’s movement. Actually, I think the wobbling helps keep it stable. You can’t just wipe out momentum when you stop moving in one direction, especially when this thing is so light.