What really scares me about this is as it is currently weaponized, it would be good for riot control. And it would not be a far cry to add live weapons to this monstrosity either. In any case, this is so freakin cool.
From Mashable:
A group called the Suidobashi Heavy Industry created the Kuratas, a human-controlled robot. Standing more than 12 feet tall and weighing 9,920 pounds, the ...Kuratas features a humanoid upper body and four insect-like legs with wheels. It's designed to seat one person in its "chest," which pivots above a waist and has one fully-articulated arm on either side. ...
You can pre-order -- and even customize to a certain degree -- your own Kurotas here for a mere $1.3 million. It's worth noting, however, that this does not include shipping. Of course, there may also be a discount for being a whiny teenage boy with crippling psychological issues, so you might want to ask about that.
Controlling the robot is handheld through a custom control stick that's part steering wheel, part puppetry rig. It can be turned to pivot the bot's waist and steer it when moving -- the Kuratas has a top speed of six miles per hour -- while a pair of joysticks operates the arms.
Twisting and bending these sticks allows you to control the arms similar to how puppeteers move the elaborate animatronics used in movies. Users can also control the robot's movements with an app installed on an iPhone.
In addition to its literal pair of arms, the Kuratas is armed with a multi-rocket launcher and two Gattling cannons. The former fires plastic rockets filled with compressed water, while the latter can shoot a terrifying 6,000 plastic BBs per minute when you smile.
The robot is fitted with a Xbox Kinect sensor in order to pick up your gestures and facial expressions, including the one needed to unleash what its creators have dubbed the "smile shot."
Jokes aside, this is fantastic and amazing and the beginning of something big. Seriously, what one company does, another will try -- and they could do it smarter, cooler, cheaper, or any combination of the three. You may need to win the lottery or something first, but now you can technically pilot your own giant robot in your lifetime. It's not just fantasy anymore (or, er, science fiction). It's real. It exists. Truly, a world where giant robots are for sale is significantly better than the world last week, in which they weren't. Thanks to everyone who sent in the tip!
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60 comments
A pretty sardonic satire, if anything. Except for R3, which was old-fashioned vaudeville.
Wasn't Robocop a comedy? The first one, at least. The sequels were all Scary Movie levels of terror, anyway.
I used to work to pay for rent, it seems that now i'm going to have to work to pay for a Mecha. It will take me almost 40 years at my current pay. >_
If this is real, it's very exciting. I wish there were some actual shots of it rolling down the street rather than CGI. Though I'm baffled by the 'smiling to fire' mechanic. How does that seem like a good idea? That's the one thing that seems too much like an anime gag to be real.
Wake me when it's got a couple of those boxes on its shoulders that shoot a ton of little missiles. ED. OH MAN YOU CAN ADD THEM. I'M AWAKE.
After some digging, I'm convinced this is legit. http://www.plasticpals.com/?p=33779 This link (where io9 got the news from, which Mashable promptly used, which... you get the idea) mentions that Kogoro Kurata, the mecha engineer who designed these, was the same hobbyist who built the 1:1 scale operable Scopedog reported more than a year ago here in TR. Also, they're selling these as an "art piece", not a serious mode of transportation. ...Fridge horror dictates, if this is just the equivalent of a glorified gunpla, WHAT IS THEIR MILITARY HIDING?!?
Correction: after THIS shit, NOTHING would make them care: http://www.toplessrobot.com/2012/07/an_important_breakthrough_in_topless_robot_technol.php
The performance of that thing seems kinda pokey...but could probably be improved with a better power plant. A small nuclear generator might work, and it'd meet the weight limits if you left off the shielding.
Gizmoduck kinda creeped me out, the first time I saw him. Something about being unwillingly locked in to a robotic suit you could barely control—and a couple of your limbs are seemingly unaccounted for... (That episode of C.O.P.S. where the guy got his hand locked in a magic gauntlet, and it looked like the bomb disposal officer had to latch an X-Ray case around it—complete with panicked screaming and electrical arcing—weren't much better. 80s cartoons could be hardcore when no one was looking.)
now someone just needs to steal this technology and go on a rampage in Tokyo and anime reality begins
Also, remember how people lamented over the lack of robotic dogs and flying cars past the year 2000? Yeah, FUCK your robotic dogs! I'm in a mecha!
You know how a lot of things were not as awesome as you remembered them from childhood? Well, this, good sir, is not one of them! Not bad for a twenty year old, direct to video movie, eh?
The scariest part? "...can shoot a terrifying 6,000 plastic BBs per minute when you smile." ...eyup. This is designed by a maniac. And FOR maniacs, apparently! Now shut up and take my money, dear, or I'll "smile" your way.
Rob, you didn't post the video with the female pilot: http://youtu.be/2iZ0WuNvHr8 I was wondering why there were no "smile shot" jokes.
But come on, who among us would not waste all their ammo the second they strap into this thing? And how embarrassing would it be to be standing over your enemies, seconds a way from giving a totally epic one liner, only to finish them off just before you get to say it? Nothing could possibly be worse than premature annihilation. Well, I suppose I should look on the bright side and see it for the Shinji Ikari murder-spree fail safe that it is: gods know that kid never smiles.
I had to look up "Gizmoduck" - apparently the '90s were a weird time even for those who remained here for them.
Moronic giant knife? Dont you know? You need the giant knife to battle the robot's one weakness..small knives.
Blathering Blatherskite, how could you badmouth the splendiferous Gizmooooduck? Are you perhaps...DARKWING DUCK!?!
I love that smiling fires the gatling guns. 'Cause, seriously, who isn't going to be grinning like an idiot the second they rev that sucker up. Carnage!
I wish telepathic control were a thing. Also, to continue Evangelion references, s/enemies/lover.
