Slashdot Mirror
Your Own Mecha
BJH writes "A Japanese company by the unfortunate name of tmsuk has just announced the world's largest robot capable of carrying a person - the 3.5m tall, 5 ton T52 Enryu HyperRescueRobot.
Their product site is in Japanese, but here's a few fun facts: it's 10m wide with its arms fully outstretched, is powered by an onboard water-cooled three cylinder direct injection diesel engine, has a maximum speed of 3Km/h, and carries seven 680,000-pixel CCD cameras with a separate monitor for each camera.
If no whiny 14-year-olds are available to pilot it, it can be remotely controlled (with a dummy plug in the cockpit, presumably)."
So are we ready to fight the sentinels yet?
Get Signorey Weaver and bring on the Alien mother.
Those who can do. Those who can't sue.
I need to know how to say in Japanese, how much, and do you finance...
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
C'mon, this joke's got legs!
Looks like the perfect thing to babysit kids with or fight mother aliens.
Scratch that, the kids'll break it.
Don't be fooled. That photo is of a 1 meter tall man standing beside Steve Mann
Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
However the projects were stomped due to several reasons:
Over 90 years and counting !
It's intended for use in areas hit by natural disaster - earthquakes, for example. The name 'Enryu' could be translated as 'Helpful Dragon' (the 'en' is part of the Japanese word for 'rescue' or 'aid').
NEWS
Releasing new model rescue robot "T-52 support dragon" with fire fighting coming out first system (Inc.) the Kitakyushu city National Fire Prevention and Control Administra,
(Germany) fire fighting laboratory, the Kyoto university and others and development
Corporation (high main Yoichi Chief Executive Officer: below head office Kitakyushu city) 2004 January 11th (day), the Kitakyushu city National Fire Prevention and Control Administra and
the independent administrative corporate body fire fighting laboratory, Assistant Professors Kyoto university Yokokouzi the new model rescue robot "T-52 support dragon which was developed
(...)" at the Kitakyushu city fire fighting coming out first system which is held at the Kitakyushu city Moji Ku it released.
The "T-52 support dragon" in order to be able to execute the necessary job of real power at such as disaster actual place, total height approximately 3.45 m, at weight
approximately 5 t and worldwide biggest size, adopting hydraulic drive system for drive of the upper body and the like which possesses 2 arms.
The person boarding to the robot, either one of operation and the remote manipulation which utilizes the radio and the mobile communication device etc.
it can select according to circumstance.
The "T-52 support dragon" was developed for utilization development of the rescue robot it was formed by the member of "prevention of disasters robot development conference".
did the design production of the robot, the Kitakyushu city National Fire Prevention and Control Administra police/policing anti section emergency rescue section, adopted,
the opinion of the specialist of the fire fighting disaster relief robot engineering of
Assistant Professors Kyoto university Yokokouzi who does the research of the independent administrative corporate body fire fighting laboratory and the remote manipulation type robot etc.
which do the research of the rescue robot from stage of the design. Design went Takashi Satoshi Takahashi of the robot creator (the Kyoto university venture representation).
In addition, the Kyushu Institute of Technology which is the local university institution which does the research of the robot,
Fukuoka prefecture and Kitakyushu city of the Fukuoka prefecture industrial engineering center and the local self-governing community etc., also
foundation Fukuoka prefecture industrial technology promotion foundation participated.
Released as for the "T-52 support dragon" with the experimental model, to work actually, furthermore development improvement is needed with the latest fire fighting coming out first system.
Adjusting to intended purpose such as durability heat resistance, and improvement of work ability the schedule which keeps continuing development.
...over compensating for something.
SIGERR: laziness exceeds quota
Wow the "T-52 support dragon" weighs in at 5 tons. If it does not find somebody on the first pass then their will be no need for the second as it will crush them into oblivion.
babelfish translation
...948 models later and it's Judgment Day!
(Giant grippers crushing one of the few remaining
human rebels):
Please...stop..."rescuing"...me! Aaaaarrggghh!!!
All we need now are auto-balancing walking chassis and shoulder mount gatlins! You cant tell me military organizations havent already gotten their drooly mits over this one.!
But seriously, I think this is a great step in the right direction as far as conserving not only the lives of those in danger but also those of the brave people attempting to rescue them. What would be interesting to know is how soon American based construction and demolition corporations would be snapping this up.. Look close. This isnt much large than a standard issue BOBcat and the extra servo arms add tons of additional flexibility (npi)..
Bitch you KNOW the side.. WORLD MAFUCKIN WIDE..
Random Japanese Person 1: Aaaaaagh! The evil robots are coming!
Random Japanese Person 2: It certainly does seem as if this is the end. They are only six kilometers from here!
Time Passes
Random Japanese Person 1: This is boring. Perhaps we should go to them.
Random Japanese Person 2: My grandma could outrun these fucking evil robots. What a bunch of losers.
More Time Passes
Random Japanese Person 1: Do you realize we could have watched "Amelie" by now?
Random Japanese Person 2: Yes, perhaps the evil robots are not ready for prime-time yet.
Still More Time Passes
Random Japanese Person 1: Well, I'm tired of waiting. I'm going to hop a bullet train for Kyoto and catch a baseball game.
Random Japanese Person 2: I'm in. Those robots are still over a kilometer from here, and it looks like some kid just took one out with a "Red Ryder" BB gun.
Blogging Weight Loss, Distance Education, and more at verlin.com
I've driven a lot of Bobcat and Case Loaders and this thing doesn't look 1) as stable and 2) as useful as a skid-steer front loader. It looks like the center of gravity is way to high!
Of course, it has pinchers, so bonus points for looking cool.
We need one that can snatch aeroplanes out of the air as they dive towards huge skyscrapers, filled to the brim with wailing passengers.
If no whiny 14-year-olds are available to pilot it,
Sure there are. Finding some that can pilot and are clinically insane, however, may take time.
The coolest voice ever.
There are a few threads saying 'oh, this has been done' and 'it's useless' already.
That's silly. It's a prototype. (Perhaps even a test type or earlier!) It has no weapons. No armor. The electronics are there, but the cockpit in the current form is uncomfortable and small. There is no life support. It's small, bordering on "this is just a new kevlar vest, right?" tiny.
But before millionaires can have Big series and the rest of the world Leos or Zakus, these inefficient designs must come and go. Eventually we'll stumble on a Tallgeese or something.
Besides, they didn't say it was combat-ready. IIRC, the blurb says it was the "HyperRescueRobot." That doesn't sound like something I'd want to pilot into a war.
Not to mention the fact that the cockpit not only lacks armor, but is exposed. What is this, Dorothy-1?
Now, I'm toying with building a Big O cockpit. I just need a few other parts funded and built, and then "It's SHOWTIIIIME!!!!"
(Note: I have been considering a Big O replica cockpit, but slowly changing that plan. Unsuprisingly, Slashdot is the impetus for this gradual change.)
Um, no. A clean shot with what? Your grandma's 22 isn't going to bring down an M1A1 Abrams. Neither is your nephew's AK47 or indeed any small-arms. A heavy chain machine gun won't either. And while it's true that there are a distressingly large number of Warsaw Pact derivative (and unfortunately even NATO derivative) rocket-propelled grenade launchers out there, successful operation of an anti-tank weapon is not plug-and-play.
They are vulnerable to mined roads, etc. But then, so is everything (except hovercraft?)
The Blackhawk is a helicopter. It's intrinsically fragile. (Even the Apache -- which is the combat helicopter you probably meant to reference -- turned out to be surprisingly vulnerable even to small arms fire.)
But the helicopters are not nearly as vulnerable as a mech would be. Despite forty years of cool anime, it's time for the fanboys to understand: Mech warriors are a dumb idea and a waste of resources. The human form is not particularly well-adapted for industrial warfare, and it offers no advantages for modern weapon systems. Indeed, I think you can argue well that the human form forces compromises that detract from combat effectiveness.
That's one of the lessons of Matrix Revolutions: There is no way -- even with $100 million -- to make mech warriors look less than stupid, because they are instrinsically stupid.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
You realise that this marks the birth of the Genom Corporation? Quick, better set up the first AD Police unit!
You must think in Russian.
DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER!
I just wasted your mod points! HA!
and maybe English will come out.
Donate background CPU time to fight cancer.
actually, I just listened to part of the comentary track on the new Aliens special edition dvd, and Cameron mentions that there is a body builder in the "suit" behind sigorny weaver, helping her move the plastic arms and feet. She was basically standing on his feet.
there is more to it than that, including some kind of rig behind it helping to support it all.
How the hell did this thread about the "world's largest robot capable of carrying a person" turn into a military discussion. When we see robots, why is it that we automatically think weapons? I realize that the military might be the first to pick up the new technology, just like it happened with airplanes and nuclear fission, but in the long term I can imagine peaceful uses, as they were intented in the first place by their original creators. People who invented airplanes and fission did it to make humans more enabled, happier - flying has always been a dream of humans envying birds, and the scientists thinking about fission meant it as an awesome source of energy. Once you're enabled and more capable, it's up to you what you do with it. You can use your newfound powers to live better, or to destroy something. Right now the military is heavily into unmanned toys, but I think in the future, the ratio of robots used for bettering the lives of humans to the amount used by the military will be very high.. just like the amount of commercial airplane flights outdo the military part. Why isn't anyone thinking about grandma in the nursing home "prison" being able to get out back home because she can take care of herself again, cuz she can 'dress up' into her robot clothes that helps her walk, drive, and shop? Is that such a scary future? The cave people must have been damn scared of fire first but where would we be without fire? Sure you can burn down your enemy's huts with fire, but these day's when we think fire that's not the first thing that comes to mind anymore. I'm sure it will be the same with robots.
American kids, (in the land of All for One and Crumbs for All), dreamed of Batman and Spiderman, ultimate individualists.
And so kids grow into adults, adults engineer reality.
When sitting around on my friend's front porch many, many years ago, this came to us a new and startling realization. My friend turned to me aghast, "The Japanese are going to have fucking mechs! --The Americans are going to have idiots running around in capes."
He then, imitating a big robot arm, held up his hand and swatted the porch. "SQUASH!"
Although. .
With genetic research and the recent spate of films like, "Spider Man," (which no longer look to nuclear science to create its heroes. .
-FL