Homemade Mecha Walks in Japan

EtherAlchemist writes "Sakakibara Kikai has pictures and even a movie of their Land Walker robot (Babelfish translation here) which appears to work. Powered by a 250cc gas engine and armed with several guns (including 2 that fire Nerf-like balls) it stands at a little over 3 meters. What makes this one interesting is that it is actually armed and it is piloted instead of being an exo-skeleton. Makes me wonder if the creators of shows like Robotech or comics/RPGs like Battletech have any kind of licensening rights on appearance. I'd like to see a Warhammer..."

Comments

Re:Of Course

[Master of Transhuman]

Might work well in urban environments provided it could walk fast enough and didn't tower over the buildings (which would give warning to those on the other side) and also had the appropriate weapons systems.

Just pop around a corner and cut loose.

Would be hell on tanks and unmounted troops unless they could drive through the buildings and sneak up on it from behind.

Of course, as our idiots in Iraq have discovered, it's not easy to drive around in armored vehicles in an urban environment and stay in one piece.

The much vaunted Stryker vehicle is already being redesigned - it lasted about a year in its present design in a real combat situation - which is exactly what was predicted before the Pentagon idiots sent it over there.