Japan startup unveils 15-foot robot suit for space exploration

www.independent.co.uk Japan startup unveils 15-foot robot suit for space exploration

‘Mobile Suit Gundam’ robot costs $3 million and could also be used for disaster relief

Japan startup unveils 15-foot robot suit for space exploration::undefined

44 comments

There's 100 other options that are more practical but 100% less cool
Weird. I didn't know Gundams had wheels.

Fucking trash article. Every single outlet reporting on this is calling it a Gundam. Clearly we wouldn't know what a 15 foot tall robot is without someone comparing it to a 100ft bipedal machine with massive guns and lightsabers that looks totally different than what they're describing.
- There are plenty of instances in anime where mechs (I guess not specifically Gundam) have wheels or skates/wheels, like Code Geass. I think its mostly so they don't have to animate walking on the ground or draw different leg movements/positions.
  
  Edit: added stuff about drawing.
  
  gundum suits arent real dude its fiction
  
  thats just a lot of car parts assembled incorrectly
  
  and a CEO
  
  and maybe 1 or 2 enginees maybe
  
  /ssssssss
- yea when i saw the wheels i knew
  
  this is a attempt at geting funding
  
  that will not be spent on much more than the board members
Maybe...

Maybe...

Maybe I will live to see the legendary Mecha Duck Space Battles

STEP OFF
"Japan, we don't need to design a mecha for everything."

"But Gundam P1ANT will make crop harvesting 10% more efficient!"

"We need to get you into a war just so you have an outlet."
The demands of space exploration weight reduction, weight reduction, compactness and weight reduction. The demands of disaster relief are probably all terrain mobility, strength and stability. Those attributes are polar opposites.
- But the demand for mech suits is always very high.
  
  Every time someone gets all self righteous and posts stuff about how this isn’t “practical” or “cost-effective” or “actually useful in a real world scenario, where efficacy is needed”.
  
  They always forget the critical important factor: Mech Suits are Awesome!
No, it's not for space exploration, and no, it wasn't unveiled by the nation of Japan. Hyperbole to the extreme, shame on you, Independent.

Some Japanese bloke built it after learning how to weld, and said he thinks it'd be cool if something like it could be used for space exploration one day.

There's no story here, just a guy doing simple DIY metalwork robotics.
hopes the robot could one day be used for disaster relief or in the space industry

Imagine I'd just fiddle around and build a few neat things and then hope they are going to be useful in outer space 😄
- These guys 100% have no use case whatsoever for the thing they're building besides "dude let's MECHA"
  
  I can respect that tbh, but pretending and dancing around it is a bit lame
- "Disaster relief". One day someone will find this in some abandoned underground research facility on the Moon and realize it's the key to restoring peace on Earth.
GUNDUM
"space exploration"
So 1/4 scale mobile suit. Not quite a Gundam, but it's a start.
Get away from her you bitch!
Didn't Captain Disillusion already debunk this...?
- Different co in SK.
If you sit in a seat, it's not a suit.
- Gundam series mobile suits all were piloted from a seated position.
  
  G gundam had these bodysuit they wore in a pod thing. Even a horse could pilot one.
  
  Gundams aren't suits either.
- "Leg scooter" didn't test well with consumers 😹
boondoggle noun

a wasteful and worthless project undertaken for political, corporate, or personal gain
- I don’t know that I’d call this wasteful or worthless. Does it have a current application? Likely not. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be built upon.
  
  Yeah it is wasteful or worthless. The designer even said "we made it to look like anime". Mechs are incredibly impractical in anything in the real world. There's a reason why they haven't been made (and that reason isn't "lack of technology")
  
  This is a hobby for a man-child with more money and time than sense. I bet you the speed that the arms move in the video is the max they're capable of.
  
  This will never be useful for any actual work. Someone might eventually buy it for a publicity stunt.
Disaster relief, huh? Sounds like you've got a job , 621...
It's happening? IT'S HAPPENING GUYS!
I for one, wish to welcome our new mech-overlords who cannot climb stairs.
Evangelion when?
- Do you see any kaijus?
  
  Every day and wondering when someone will do something about them. They are ruining my lawn.
  
  Not Yet but im Shure i can Summon some if necessary...
  
  Well Fukushima just dumped their waste last month...
- When we figure out how to genetically engineer robots to not be robots but be aliens that are also robots that also are your dead mom.
All it's missing is the queen alien!

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