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Real-Life Transformer Robot On Sale In Japan

Posted by samzenpus on from the roll-out dept.

Modellismo writes "Last May a Japanese hobbyist revealed a DIY, real-life Transformer Robot Car that received lots of feedback. Now Kenji Ishida is back with a new version that will be officially presented next weekend at the Maker Faire Tokyo 2012. This new 1/12 scale autobot is made using a custom 3D printer (build by Kenji himself), and finally Transformers fans around the world will be able to buy it. The official price has not been disclosed. For now the production is limited to 10 pieces. It's possible to choose the color of the robot that comes built and programmed, complete with a wireless controller in a numbered case."

54 comments

  1. The Japanese and robots by crazyjj · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I once asked a Japanese friend "What's with the obsession with robots?" He said it actually went back hundreds of years to the national art form of Karakuri ningy. So I guess it's not such a recent thing, after all.

    --
    What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    1. Re:The Japanese and robots by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, it's not like the West didn't have its own fair share of humanoid automata, fictional or not... The Mechanical Turk (a fake, but a nice one), the contraptions of Jaquet-Droz...I'd even throw the Golem of Prague into the mix, although that's more like "magitech". :-)

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:The Japanese and robots by jpatters · · Score: 2

      It goes back at least as far as ancient Greece with Talos from the Jason and the Argonauts myth.

      --
      "Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
  2. Ha! Cue a lawsuit... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...Hasbro will not be pleased.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
    1. Re:Ha! Cue a lawsuit... by poetmatt · · Score: 1

      its 2012. I don't think Hasbro is going to risk boycotts or paying an assload to court over trying to imply they own all toys worldwide. That Brats vs Mattel (barbie) case pretty much put a stop to that.

    2. Re:Ha! Cue a lawsuit... by Q-Hack! · · Score: 2

      Never underestimate the tenacity of lawyers.

      --
      Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.
    3. Re:Ha! Cue a lawsuit... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe it transforms into a lawyer?

    4. Re:Ha! Cue a lawsuit... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Funny

      Maybe it transforms into a lawyer?

      I'm pretty sure that this is supposed to be an Autobot, not a Decepticon.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    5. Re:Ha! Cue a lawsuit... by krakelohm · · Score: 0

      slow clap

      --
      You are all a bunch of idots.
    6. Re:Ha! Cue a lawsuit... by poetmatt · · Score: 1

      most aren't willing to sacrifice their career if there's precedent. I do say *most*

  3. "built using a custom 3d printer" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Is every tool which does anything but draw on paper going to be called "3d printer" now? And is everything which has at least one part created using a tool so labelled going to be referred to as if entirely "built using a 3d printer"?

    The guy built a remote control car which vaguely turns into something looking like a robot. This is kinda cool, I guess - the '80s was full of stuff like this.

  4. Why not full size? by oodaloop · · Score: 2

    We can put a man on the moon, but I can't drive a giant advanced transforming evil alien robot? WTF?

    --
    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    1. Re:Why not full size? by ciderbrew · · Score: 1

      There is a good reason.
      I watched this with no sound, it may have swears. You are warned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjYFLR-EqGQ

    2. Re:Why not full size? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The 1960s can put a man on the Moon.

      We certainly can't.

      All of the profit! none of the risk!
      Shareholders! shareholders! rah rah rah!

    3. Re:Why not full size? by Hentes · · Score: 1

      Safety risk.

    4. Re:Why not full size? by Baloroth · · Score: 2

      We certainly can't.

      Can't? No. Don't want to? Yes. Honestly, there isn't much point to it, and never was. Landing a man on the moon was mostly a dick-waving contest in the first place. Yeah sure it's cool, but it has very little scientific purpose beyond proving it can be done... which was already known anyways.

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    5. Re:Why not full size? by islisis · · Score: 1

      Ahead of you.

      2013
              1/8 scale transform robot - More bigger transform robot
              1/12 scale symmetry combine robot - Inventing combine system

      2015
              1/5 scale transform robot - More bigger transform robot
              1/12 scale combine robot - Inventing many parts combine system - Inventing super AI system

      2030
                1/1 scale transform robot - Transform robot anybody can ride - The robot think by super AI system

      from: http://www.braverobotics.com/history_en.html

    6. Re:Why not full size? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Sending a man on a one way ticket to Mars is an equally futile example of dickwaving, but plenty of People on /. are all for it. It is geek version of who can piss higher on the wall.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    7. Re:Why not full size? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's if you get a cool advanced evil transforming alien bot in the first place. You might be stuck with an alien transforming wussbot instead.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds8j9UhmTPk

    8. Re:Why not full size? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought the AutoBots were the good guys.....

    9. Re:Why not full size? by Nrrqshrr · · Score: 1

      Well, am just a 23 years old guy, so the days of the space race were over before I was even born. But still, I imagine it's effect on kids. People you would ask, at 10 years old, what they want to do later on, they would probably say things like "I want to be like Armstrong" or "I want to walk on the moon, too!".

      Just look at Felix's jump, it was just a commercial feat and a big-ass advertisement, but people saw it everywhere, and everyone I know was pretty fascinated about it.
      Sure, kids won't really strive to jump out of the stratosphere tomorrow. But I do believe that a generation surrounded by events such as faster-than-speed falls and men walking on Mars would be way more profitable in the long run than a generation surround by the latest trends in stupidity and self-importance.
      But hey, if we can't see tangible profit in 5 years, there is no way anyone would fund it...

    10. Re:Why not full size? by Dishevel · · Score: 2

      Yup. Landing a guy on the moon was pointless.
      Putting a bunch of people up there and some infrastructure so that we can build or at least fuel craft from the moon is not pointless.
      Moving launch vehicles out of a weak gravity well like that of the moon is a huge step toward cost effective utilization of the solar systems resources.
      This is something we really do need.

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    11. Re:Why not full size? by Baloroth · · Score: 1

      There actually is a fairly good argument for landing people on Mars: latency. Best case, you are going to get ~5 minutes of lag with all commands to robots, and you can't trust the robots to run themselves completely. Bandwidth is also a problem, but that could be dealt with on the technical side. Latency cannot. Putting a human on Mars would mean you could do 100x the exploration in the same amount of time. That could be worthwhile. That problem doesn't exist for the Moon, as it is only a few light-seconds away. Humans are a bit faster even there, but not nearly as much so as they would be for Mars.

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    12. Re:Why not full size? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Yep, something like this RC toy would never work in full scale.

      If you want a full-scale robot that transforms from bipedal to wheeled vehicle form, it would be better to go with something like the HAVWCs from FLAG:

      http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/m/image/1250/82/1250822721463.jpg

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    13. Re:Why not full size? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Awesome and no swearing. SFW.

    14. Re:Why not full size? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahead of you.

      2013 1/12 scale symmetry combine robot - Inventing combine system

      Sweet, it's going to harvest our crops! Maybe we'll finally end the daylight savings shenanigans!

    15. Re:Why not full size? by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      That's like flying from LA to New York by first dismantling the plane in Miami and then putting it and all it's fuel on semi trailers, along with all the equipment and materials to build the runway and all the people needed and all the support equipment... and then moving it all off road from Miami to LA.

      It's not a huge step towards anything - it's sheer insanity. You don't save any fuel by launching from the moon when you have to ship all the fuel there in the first place. You don't make something cost effective by spending trillions of dollars up front.

    16. Re:Why not full size? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That might be true if they had not found massive amounts of frozen water on the moon.
      Since they have that means that we have a bunch of very heavy fuel there.
      Being that most of the energy used to get anywhere in the solar system is used lifting fuel out of earths gravity well.
      It seems to most people versed on the subject in the slightest that having at the very least a fueling facility on the moon
      would be incredibly beneficial.

  5. Awesome but.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    [rimshot heard around the world]...does it run Linux?[/rimshot]

    1. Re:Awesome but.... by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      Probably, but TFA is firewalled off here. There are few computing or robotic devices that can't run Linux.

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
  6. Easy irony! by aglider · · Score: 1

    Great advancements in robotics!
    Next step will be real life toy Gundam!
    Mod to -2: too ironic!

    --
    Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
    1. Re:Easy irony! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are working on a Gundam-like exoskeleton:

      http://www.gizmag.com/raytheon-significantly-progresses-exoskeleton-design/16479/

    2. Re:Easy irony! by aglider · · Score: 1

      Gundam is not an exoskeleton!

      --
      Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
    3. Re:Easy irony! by Fned · · Score: 1

      Gundam is not an exoskeleton!

      Nor is it the responsibility of the Japanese Agriculture Ministry!

    4. Re:Easy irony! by loufoque · · Score: 1

      Why did you feel the need to give a link to explain Gundam?

  7. I, for one... by vikingpower · · Score: 0

    ...welcome our new overlords. Ha !

    --
    Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
    1. Re:I, for one... by loufoque · · Score: 1

      You're doing it wrong.

  8. Sorry, but someone has to write it: by Psicopatico · · Score: 0

    It's possible to choose the color of the robot

    As long as it's black

    --
    Mastering the English language is fucking easy: all you have to do is to put an f* word in every fucking sentence.
  9. I want a full size transformer... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That can transform into a slot machine. Wouldn't it be awesome if every time you won it did a little dance?

    Or have it literally shit coins into a metal container?

    I love slot machines. They are so much better than human friends.

  10. Transformers are real... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...in Japan!

    1. Re:Transformers are real... by VanessaE · · Score: 1

      It's a robot. You know - like a super-advanced robot. It's probably Japanese. Yeah, it's definitely Japanese.

  11. Obligatory /. question... by Razgorov+Prikazka · · Score: 4, Funny

    1 - Does it run linux?
    2 - is the HW RPi based?
    3 - Crowdfunded?
    4 - Frikkin lasers?
    5 - Does this guy accept bit coins?

    If the answers to those questions are yes, yes, yes, yes and yes than I want a whole beowulfcluster of them! :-)

    --
    rm -rf --no-preserve-root / ...and let /dev/null sort them out...
    1. Re:Obligatory /. question... by oodaloop · · Score: 2

      Geez, you got all those and didn't ask if it blends? You must be new here!

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    2. Re:Obligatory /. question... by Razgorov+Prikazka · · Score: 1

      Yup! 469682uid's newer than you actually. That is why I also forgot to put in "OMG Ponies!" because I am a complete n00b and just came out of my egg yesterday... :-P

      --
      rm -rf --no-preserve-root / ...and let /dev/null sort them out...
    3. Re:Obligatory /. question... by cynyr · · Score: 1

      oie! Kids! Keep it down and get off mah lawn! (sorry finally found someone with higher UIDs than me to do that to).

      --
      All of the above was encrypted with a Quad ROT-13 method. Unauthorized decryption is in violation of the DMCA.
    4. Re:Obligatory /. question... by tgd · · Score: 1

      oie! Kids! Keep it down and get off mah lawn! (sorry finally found someone with higher UIDs than me to do that to).

      Hmph

  12. I'll take two by Baron_Yam · · Score: 1

    Full size & street legal. One in red, one in purple.

  13. VIdeo by anonymousNR · · Score: 1

    That video is not very convincing. It might as well be stop motion.

    --
    -- It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. -- Aristotle
    1. Re:VIdeo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "That video is not very convincing. It might as well be stop motion."

      It is. The moment I noticed how many scripts the assholes running that site were trying to jam down my throat, I stopped, motioned to my cat that all was not well, and left. Fucking script bait.

  14. Should redo the video. by Seor+Jojoba · · Score: 1

    The car/robot is amazing. But Kenji needs to redo the video to use better lighting, camera, or something. Get a pro in there to shoot it.

    1. Re:Should redo the video. by loufoque · · Score: 1

      In Japan, it is impolite to call people you're not intimate with by their first name.

    2. Re:Should redo the video. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In America, it's impolite to patronize people with redundant info about a foreign culture on an American website.

  15. Transformers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and Michael Bay will not be pleased. Each Transformers movie was CaRaAAAAPERrrrrRRRrr than the last. This is a million times better.