Japan Startup Develops 'Gundam'-Like Robot With $3 Million Price Tag (reuters.com) 36
A Tokyo startup has developed a 4.5-meter-tall, four-wheeled robot modeled after the "Mobile Suit Gundam" from the Japanese animation series. It has a price tag of $3 million. Reuters reports: Called ARCHAX after the avian dinosaur archaeopteryx, the robot has cockpit monitors that receive images from cameras hooked up to the exterior so that the pilot can maneuver the arms and hands with joysticks from inside its torso. The 3.5-ton robot, which will be unveiled at the Japan Mobility Show later this month, has two modes: the upright 'robot mode' and a 'vehicle mode' in which it can travel up to 10 km (6 miles) per hour.
"Japan is very good at animation, games, robots and automobiles so I thought it would be great if I could create a product that compressed all these elements into one," said Ryo Yoshida, the 25-year-old chief executive of Tsubame Industries. "I wanted to create something that says, 'This is Japan.'" Yoshida plans to build and sell five of the machines for the well-heeled robot fan, but hopes the robot could one day be used for disaster relief or in the space industry.
"Japan is very good at animation, games, robots and automobiles so I thought it would be great if I could create a product that compressed all these elements into one," said Ryo Yoshida, the 25-year-old chief executive of Tsubame Industries. "I wanted to create something that says, 'This is Japan.'" Yoshida plans to build and sell five of the machines for the well-heeled robot fan, but hopes the robot could one day be used for disaster relief or in the space industry.
Proper terminology (Score:5, Informative)
The article refers to the device as a "robot" but I hope here on Slashdot we can use the correct technology. This is clearly a "mecha":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecha [wikipedia.org]
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Dammit, yesterday I had mod points, and today I find this.
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And Gundam had legs. This is more like Guntank.
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$3M ? Hell, at that price we can buy two and have them fight!
This is Japan (Score:4, Funny)
From TFA:
"I wanted to create something that says, 'This is Japan'."
For a lot less money, they could have put a mattress in a wheelie bin and called it a Tokyo hotel room.
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inertia.
that will be problematic.
but watching the errors on youtube.
that will be a time sink
It certainly looks cool (Score:2)
But from the video it looks like its functionality could best be described as "robot-shaped parade float". It's not something I'd spend $3M on even if I had that kind of money lying around, but clearly I'm way outside of this thing's target demographic.
Who am I kidding, I can't even wrap my head around having enough money to afford a Tesla.
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But from the video it looks like its functionality could best be described as "robot-shaped parade float". It's not something I'd spend $3M on even if I had that kind of money lying around, but clearly I'm way outside of this thing's target demographic.
Who am I kidding, I can't even wrap my head around having enough money to afford a Tesla.
No need to compare everything to everything else.
Then,let's say, say a certain hamburger at my certain fast food place is $3 and I could buy 1 million hamburgers with 3 million. If I eat 100 hamburgers a day, I can finish it in about 27 years. If I eat each hamburger in a minute, it will take 1.6 hours a day to eat them and get 400 calories per hamburger. 100 hamburgers will give me 40,000 calories. So, I would gain 11bs per day ... you get the idea.
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Is not about quantity but quality. At such amounts on money, one would probably go for more expensive hookers.
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So, I would gain 11bs per day ... you get the idea.
Resulting in needing a mech suit to move around, but then you can't afford it because you spent the money on burgers.
Re:It certainly looks cool (Score:4, Interesting)
To put it in perspective, a new fire truck costs $2 million.
If he can produce for $3 or $4 million a serious rescue tool that can manipulate huge heavy things it would be a steal. I mean, if there is a multi-car pileup and no superheroes around this is what you need. But maybe needs to scale it up more, work on the strength, crashworthiness, armor, auto-stabilization, speed, etc. I always knew a young Japanese robotics engineer would be the first to make a mecha, and the use cases are (based on manga) rescue, space, construction, etc.
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If he can produce for $3 or $4 million a serious rescue tool that can manipulate huge heavy things it would be a steal.
He can't. It can barely move itself.
Oh how sad (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts... [youtube.com]
The various human-powered plastic exoskeletons hobbyists in Japan (and elsewhere, but srsly) have made out of PVC and whatnot are like a dozen times more impressive than this. And using some hobby-grade stuff they could probably make them go faster than this thing in a wheeled mode, too.
normal youtube link (Score:2)
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You have to search for the katakana version of ARCHAX (which I would post here but... Unicode) for best results.
But remember... (Score:2)
The Agriculture Ministry is not in charge of Gundam [bbc.co.uk].
Yen (Score:2)
Didn't 'Gundam'-like robots only cost $2M before COVID. Inflation is out of control!
"disaster relief or the space industry" (Score:4, Interesting)
The creator's hopes are actually not too far off for how large wheeled robotic systems have been used in the past. In the late 50s, the USAF sought a radiation-hardened robot for refuelling nuclear-powered bombers. The result was the GE Beetle [ieee.org], and though the project was ultimately scrapped, it does have something of a resemblance to the ARCHAX structurally, so that's neat. The anthropomorphism is probably wasteful, though!
It's not a true gundam.. (Score:2)
Until you have a kid being forced to pilot it to save his life
And it's not true Japan (Score:2)
Until said kid is female and wears a belt as a skirt while doing it.
Lame (Score:2)
Not very inspiring.
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LOL you remember that.
What's it do? (Score:2)
Uh-oh. (Score:2)
Compared to buying another $3M car (Score:2)
nope (Score:2)
Power source? (Score:2)
The article mentioned that it can travel in vehicle mode. So I assume it has a self contained power system.
Am curious what it has and it's range and other capabilities.
It's a start (Score:2)