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

Of Course

[jcuffe]

Japan would be the first country to build a walking robot that shoots stuff.

Re:Of Course

[SparksMcGee]

I feel I speak for all frustrated nerds who have so often wished for a robotic engine of death of our very own when I say "Ha ha ha! Fools! I'll destroy them all!"

/with ackowledgments to Gary Larson

Re:Of Course

[Forthan Red]

Some people will do anything to win the con's costume contest.

What the heck?

[FireballX301]

It has one autocannon and a single gatling cannon. Where are the Extended range lasers? Or the Crossbow missiles?

I'm actually quite impressed though, but I'd like to see a shot of it actually walking around and such.

Bot vs Bot

[Airconditioning]

Still waiting paitently for the day they're armed with real weapons and used in arena style fights to the death.

Clearly they'd never be used against real people.

I dunno 'bout you

[Huxley_Dunsany]

...but I'm waiting for the battle-royale between this and the RoboShark!

Seriously, it's awesome to see two amazing robotic inventions like these - maybe Asimov's vision of a robot-filled future isn't so far off...

Huxley

PS I just can't wait till RoboSharks and Rooba's start mating... Land Shark!

And the Pilot?

[CharAznable]

Any word on which 15 year old socially inept angst-ridden teenage son of one of the creators will be chosen to pilot it?

Re:And the Pilot?

[Slimcea]

I'd say this is closer to the Gundam/Mechwarrior series rather than Evangelions (since the Eva series is pretty much organic in nature).

Of course, if this will lead to hot mysterious blue-haired girls with red eyes, then I'm all the more for it :)

Re:Bad ass.

[NanoGator]

"Completely useless with the pseudo-walking, but still, if I had money, I'd buy 12." ... it'll be the best prom EVER!!

Homemade mecha in Oregon

[Chairboy]

That's most excellent, but with some craft supplies, you too can have a homemade mecha walking in your house too. tee hee

Here's the costume I made to carry my son for Halloween:
http://hallert.net/mech/mechcostume.htm

Here's a video of it in motion:
http://hallert.net/mech/WalkingTheMech.wmv

Sakakibara Kikai

[Kaenneth]

Oddly enough, this translates to "Sarah Conner Finder"

Re:But...

[nmb3000]

And if it runs OS X, "everything just works."

...but it's made of bright green plastic and you only have one button. And it's the self-destruct button.

Re:I wouldn't say "Walked"

[toddhunter]

They same could be said of the daleks, but they did alright for a while

Waddling Overlords

[MrFlannel]

I for one welcome our new ... oh, nevermind, it can't even walk right.