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Japan Robotics Hardware

Real-Life Transformer Robot On Sale In Japan 54

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."
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Real-Life Transformer Robot On Sale In Japan

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  • by crazyjj ( 2598719 ) * on Monday November 26, 2012 @09:04AM (#42093371)

    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 [wikipedia.org]. So I guess it's not such a recent thing, after all.

  • by K. S. Kyosuke ( 729550 ) on Monday November 26, 2012 @09:05AM (#42093377)
    ...Hasbro will not be pleased.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    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.

  • by oodaloop ( 1229816 ) on Monday November 26, 2012 @09:06AM (#42093389)
    We can put a man on the moon, but I can't drive a giant advanced transforming evil alien robot? WTF?
    • 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 [youtube.com]
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      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!

      • 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.

        • 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.

          • 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
          • 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-second

        • 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.

          • 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 e

    • by Hentes ( 2461350 )

      Safety risk [pbfcomics.com].

    • by islisis ( 589694 )

      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

  • Great advancements in robotics!
    Next step will be real life toy Gundam [wikipedia.org]!
    Mod to -2: too ironic!
  • ...welcome our new overlords. Ha !
  • by Razgorov Prikazka ( 1699498 ) on Monday November 26, 2012 @10:41AM (#42094165)
    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! :-)
    • Geez, you got all those and didn't ask if it blends? You must be new here!
      • 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
        • by cynyr ( 703126 )

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

          • by tgd ( 2822 )

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

            Hmph

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

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

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