The Kuratas Battle Mech by Suidobashi Heavy Industry has a top speed of 10 km/hr, weights 4.5 tons and has a gatling gun capable of firing 100 rounds per second when the pilot smiles.
(Kuratas Mecha Mobile robot video)
The Kuratas Battle Mech may also be this years most popular smartphone accessory, since it can easily be controlled by a suitable phone with a 3G connection.
Perhaps the most exciting feature of this behemoth is the fact that the "pilot" can control it from the safety of their smartphone. An app, known as the MasterSlave control system, will allow smartphones and tablets full control of the device when connected to a 3G network.
The beast can also be controlled from inside the cockpit, where augmented reality-style controls are overlaid on a display of the outside world. Motion sensor technology allows the pilot to move the torso, arms and hands via 30 hydraulic joints. Kuratas can also grab and pick up things with its claw-like fingers.
Science fiction fans will make immediate connections with the mobile suits from the 1979 work Mobile Suit Gundam.
More recently, fans of James Cameron's film Avatar recall the Amplified Mobility Platforms:
(MK-6 AMP [Amplified Mobility Platform] from Avatar)
Read more at Sidney Morning Herald; thanks to an anonymous reader for submitting a tip on this item.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/30/2012)
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