So Japan built a real life mech...

[ZLAY]

I love how there are people complaining about how impractical it is. You do know what the first flying machine looked like? Or car for that matter...

But then again the signs of yet another possible war machine doesn't make me hyped.

 

[Jdb]

Japan is also making power suits.

Looks like we'll be seeing power armor within our lifetime as well. The future is now. Now if only they could create power armor that can be integrated with a mech. It would be a human inside of a robot inside of a robot. How awesome is that?

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

"You will be able to take out all enemies with a single smile."

Greatest sentence I've heard today.

Captcha: be serious now
At this point in time, that is impossible

 

[Lethos]

It's very cool, but wouldn't a single explosion to one of the legs make the entire thing useless?

 

[Wintermoot]

to it,s so expensive. but who knows maybe they,ll get cheaper in a few years :3
I,ll have mine red and three times faster please!

 

[Angie7F]

I used to work for the Japanese Defense Ministry.
All my colleagues were Evangelion and Gundam fans who spent years in schools like Tokyo Tech studying about explosives and robotics.
If any one tells me that they did not realize it was only a matter of time until they start seriously building mobile suits as weapons, then they are the stupid one, not me.
And yes, this post is me being half joking, but half not joking...

I am sure this is what japanese warfare will look like soon...

 

[Verzin]

haha! Oh my....What an awesome thing.

 

[WanderingFool]

I'm eagerly waiting to hear the news that Japan is recruiting a bunch of emotionless, blue haired girls to pilot these things.

Oh fuck me...

Also, I couldnt watch this video without this in the background...

 

[anthony87]

....Does that woman come with the mech?

Seriously...she was hot.

 

[StormShaun]

Still sounds cool, and it is another step in technology/war weapons...good or bad it depends for now.

Uhm, no.

Military mechs don't get shown in YouTube videos. This is a very expensive toy.
The actual military mechs I guarantee you will be using Asimo type legs, licensed from Honda. Military has the bucks unlike civilians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASIMO

But most of all ...
Actually weaponised robots are kinda secret, but no doubt, already in development. We have enough know how nowadays to make an autonomous Abrams tank for example. And that shit is way more terrifying than smile based trigger.

That is true, still the smily feature is most...disturbing...imagine seeing that on the opposite side of the road. That would be very threatening, I'm sure people would drive off the road if they saw that. (well unless they are already used to it :S)
Well I wouldn't be surprised if next gen weaponry were not in development, I mean if they have this now...what will the military plan. I worry for the future for Earth if we start to invent gundams, mechs or even Metal Gears.

It seems that we may have to wear our tin foil hats soon. Lol.

 

[Reginald the Butler]

Only in Japan could one of these roll down the street without getting so much as a second glance from the people on the sidewalk.

 

[NightHawk21]

Well this is pretty cool. Now they just need to finalize and streamline the process so a regular consumer can get this for under $20,000, and make it fast enough that it can go about the speed of a normal car.

Also for people complaining that the thing would be very easy to destroy by an explosion or whatever, so if your honda civic or other passenger car. The machine is not meant for military use (as should be evident from the lack of real weapons and the smile feature). Its first and foremost essentially a toy for the super rich, and if they were smart they would work on it a little bit more, replace the LOHAS launcher with either some sort of grenade launcher (for tear/smoke gas), and replace the BB cannon with one that shoots rubber bullets, speed it up a little and market it as a anti-riot machine.

 

[Legion]

I know I'm being the nerdy one by saying this but there's a reason there have been no mech until now (Apparently), and that's because as a fighting machine they're just ridiculously impractical.

You do know that has been said about every major technological development?
Guns were considered impractical, vehicles were considered impractical, electricity, electronic devices, computers,... airplanes were even deemed impossible.
Yet here we are now years later with all that so common it doesn't even impress us anymore.

All those things were impractical (and dangerous) in their first incarnations, like this thing.
Give it time (and investment) and then I can see something like this being put to good use. As is, it's fairly lame... and I'm not talking about the soda rockets and BB guns, the whole thing is just...

... you know damned well what I'm getting at.

Of course it is, it's slow, clunky and impractical as it stands. But all technology has to start somewhere. We never build the good stuff on our first attempts.

Hell, look at the first car made compared to the Ferrari, look at the first plane compared to the crazy military aircraft we have now.

This is the equivilent of those.

 

[Daverson]

Still sounds cool, and it is another step in technology/war weapons...good or bad it depends for now.

Uhm, no.

Military mechs don't get shown in YouTube videos. This is a very expensive toy.
The actual military mechs I guarantee you will be using Asimo type legs, licensed from Honda. Military has the bucks unlike civilians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASIMO

But most of all ...
Actually weaponised robots are kinda secret, but no doubt, already in development. We have enough know how nowadays to make an autonomous Abrams tank for example. And that shit is way more terrifying than smile based trigger.

ASIMO is only good for falling down stairs. Clearly you need to be introduced to Boston Dynamics' (creator of Big Dog) PETMAN!

Realistically speaking, though, any combat walker have at least 3 legs (though more likely 4) to improve it's balance. No one wants to spend several billion dollars on a robot that can be foiled by trip hazards!

 

[tsb247]

Imagine one of those things rolling at you on the airsoft field... Wow... That would be INSANE!

 

[PingoBlack]

Realistically speaking, though, any combat walker have at least 3 legs (though more likely 4) to improve it's balance. No one wants to spend several billion dollars on a robot that can be foiled by trip hazards!

Well, there is a slight detail to it ... When I was back in Uni doing some robotics, most people were convinced 4 legs was minimum. It allows for so called static walking, where basically you keep your centre of mass within your feet always keeping your machine stable and upright. Bugs in nature use this type of locomotion.

But then out of nowhere ... Honda rolls out a walker on 2 legs. Dynamic walker, unstable type. They also did it without any Uni being involved, so all the scientists were terribly pissed off that a commercial entity beat them to that milestone.

Walking is the ultimate all terrain locomotion, so military must be extremely interested in it. I'm sure they are Honda's main investor. It seems like a good guess.

 

[gigastrike]

If it doesn't walk, I have no interest.

 

[Icehearted]

Some years from now, we'll either have a thousand Benders or a thousand Gundam. Maybe even a Gurenn Lagann remake. To the Time Stasis chamber!

I'm just waiting for my Salma Hayekbot. That's all I need, and I'll be just fine!

And no, ASIMO with a picture of Salma Hayek taped to it doesn't count.... enough....

 

[loa]

Looks ghost in the shell inspired but it needs a hell of a lot more mobility to have an advantage over regular vehicles for example by being able to jump down from absurd heights.
Legs should be able to absorb most of that impact.