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Homemade Mecha Walks in Japan

Posted by timothy on from the first-alaska-now-this dept.

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..."

3 of 349 comments (clear)

  1. Just because... by DuranDuran · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > Makes me wonder if the creators of shows like Robotech or comics/RPGs like Battletech have any kind of licensening rights on appearance.

    This may sound like a troll, but I don't mean it that way:

    Just because in this day and age people can sue other people for just about any reason, doesn't mean that everything needs to be turned into a legal issue.

    If I was a member of this mecha's development team and I read this, I'd seriously be wondering whether inclusion on slashdot was really such a good thing after all.

    --
    "You can justify anything by putting it in quotes, adding a famous name and making it a sig" - Albert Einstein
  2. Re:Pretty cool .. by Niet3sche · · Score: 4, Insightful

    *gak*

    It moves along on wheels under the feet - think roller-skates. Also, think of how a large, mainly top-heavy (I'll bet the legs' only function is as ballast) thing scooting along ... on roller-skates. It is unstable. :(

    Neat, but ... well, if you're going to build something like this, why not at least have it walk or do something more useful with the legs than provide ballast? Also, a gyro might help with this thing's drunken swagger.

    It's not that it's terrible ... but I think it doesn't even perform up to the same bar that has been set by exoskeleton systems.

  3. Re:Robotech vehicles by Shotgun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Good analysis, but let me add just one point...

    Military vehicle designers have a name for big round blobs sitting on top of stilts. They call it 'a target'. There is a reason that both the Abram's tank and the Hummer are wide flat vehicles. You get the carrying capacity, and if a shell explodes nearby there is less chance of flipping the vehicle. The typical 'mech' design would be easily toppled and rendered useless with a simple hand tossed grenade, and that big round blob provide lots of area to absorb the blast.

    --
    Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
    Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba