The LDP has announced it is considering a Gundam development program, with the presumed intent of defending Japan with an army of giant robots.
On a political talk-show broadcast on NicoNico Douga, LDP parliamentarians including the LDP’s vice president Tadamori Oshima and former party general secretary Bunmei Ibuki revealed the LDP was “seriously considering” a “Gundam development project.”
This policy would apparently incorporate both industrial promotion of the development of bipedal robots, and their military employment.
This is not the first time the fascination of Japanese with militarily ludicrous giant robots has reached into the official sphere – previously civil servants famously developed cost estimates for the construction of a Gundam unit.
Online the plan has attracted the expected ridicule (although the prospect of seeing a billion dollar titan toppled by a hundred dollar shell to the knee admittedly has a certain appeal), as well as some suspicion that it is part of a crude attempt by the censorship loving LDP to curry favour with the creepy right-wing otaku demographic – and, this being Japan, some actual support:
“This is how they are going to spend our newly raised consumption tax?”
“These are Japan’s politicians.”
“Why Gundam all of a sudden now? You start with Zaku, Zaku!”
“Patlabor, you mean.”
“Nice to see they have some dreams, at least.”
“You lot are always trolled by this stuff, like that nonsense about Aso being a Rozen Maiden fan.”
“Why not start by making some robots which can clean up after a nuclear accident, morons.”
“Forget about useless bipedal bots, make something more useful.”
“Humanoid development allows artificial limbs and other good stuff. It’s good for Japan to follow its own direction, compared to the US and China and company, who are all on the same track.”
“People ridiculing this are the same people who would have been ridiculing the car a century ago!”
“Encouraging robotic development is great, but there really is not likely to be any merit in pushing bipedal ones.”
“Gundams would be useless in a real war. If their intent is anything more than to curry favour with otaku they should start looking at what would be.”
“Well, Gundam is just a symbol. Any idiot can see they are useless. They must be talking about promoting the robotics industry.”
“They are just trying to get your votes, guys.”
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So where's my tachikoma, Japan.
Tachikoma is probably the closest to a practical limbed platform. DARPA has various projects in that direction.
Maybe you'll be wanting cyber-brains first.
10 years from now, we'll all have robot assistants/vehicles that can each defend us from a bear attack.
A Valkyrie would kick a Gundams ass all over the place and twice on Tuesday. That's what they should build!
YEAAAAAAAAH!
Or at least a start with Persocoms. First Human sized persocoms, then the Tachikoma, then Giant Robots. You have to crawl before you ride G. Robots.
aehm,you've got the order mixed up!
In every technological innovation you start out big and get smaller with more advanced technology(like with mobile phones,television, computer-processors,portable music players,etc.) because it's easier to start with big parts (like babies start with toy blocks and advance to lego and from there to mechanics,electronics,etc.
It's easier to understand how it works/make it work and then refine your production skill/the production matter to reduce costs/material usage/production time/etc., so in the case of persocoms, it will be most likely that evolved technology from military will become common technology later on (like the case of GPS) and naturally lead to the invention of humanoid robots(because we need them for geriatric care sooner or later).
Still,a bipedal robot is kinda useless because unless it's bipedal movement is 100% identical to the humans,even a tracked vehicle like a tank is more flexible in movement than those bipedal robots nowadays(they can't even climb over a tree trunk because they will lose their balance and tilt over xD) and for military usage,a tetrapedal,hexapedal or even octa-/decapedal robot would be far more promising since the weight stabilising won't be a problem anymore[ right now that's the biggest problem].
I guess that since the order is actually knowledge as common as to make it into anime such as Code Geass, where the abundance of dedicated military technology bitterly compares to using a general-purpose cyborg to harvest oranges, the first speaker might have been expressing a wish.
Multiped Tanks are probably the most viable option, but since we don't have AI we need to come up with either a good control system, or a dual-pilot interface.
SORA NO WOTO...WOOT..triti
I always thought 6 or 8 leg "spider"-mechs would be best. While the legs would be the most vulnerable points, as long as at least two legs on one side and one on the other were still mostly intact, it could still stand and fight. Also, as long as at least 2 legs were working on each side, pit traps wouldn't be terribly effective.
Make the legs potentially detachable and add pop-out wheels or treads on the bottom and it could still limp home (or get wherever else it needs to be) even if severely damaged. Though this might turn out to be rather impractical.
Military or rescue vehicles with four or more legs could definitely be useful. I suspect they would use the wheels or treads as their primary mode of transport though, and only walk when faced with difficult terrain. Walking would undoubtedly be much slower and less fuel efficient, and would place significantly more strain on components, so it's not something you'd want to use most of the time.
As for bipedal tanks, they seem quite impractical. Even if you could make a tank walk reliably upright on two legs, all it takes is one limb to break down and your vehicle is out of commission. And there would be absolutely no logic behind not adding at least a second set of legs. They would make the vehicle far more stable and reliable.
Shriow does go the extra mile in developing probable uses for his 'bots. While
marginal in combat (it's a one man APC) the Tachikomas are useful in safety/ rescue operations, and are colored to look fairly normal in an urban area.
Any modern version would need a remote operator, though.
'extra mile' as in 1 mile where you actually need to go 10,000 to be remotely practical or viable in RL.
They should develop Strike Witches instead.
Yuria type 100 and her sisters.
also they need to outlaw pants on cute girls.
No, Chobits is better to be developed.
Sadly women will never allow it, since it would make them obsolete.
They don't have to allow, just sell them on the internet! And based on sancom news men aren't allowed near women anyway...
Would make men obsolete too, that's actually the best plan for robots to invade en destroy humanity without any conflicts.
Actually in the manga there's a "male" version and a "female" version of a chobits so I'm sure women AND men would both enjoy them.
Aren't they already obsolete in Japan.
What do you mean "Women would never allow it"? Lesbians would want the Steel Angel Saki model.
they're already working on those
dutch wife have done the job
Indeed. And them make Japan rich by exporting sex robots to all kinds of sickfucks. Want a girl with tits bigger than you? Want a tentacle girl? Want a futanari loli furry? We can make one if you pay the price!
shut up and take my money!
@ Anon 15:27 -
"Want a girl with tits bigger than you?"
No, thank you.
sizeof(head) >= sizeof(boob) ? accept() : reject();
"Want a tentacle girl?"
Maaaaybeeeee. I saw a pretty hot pic of Megurine Luka in tentacle mode.
"Want a futanari loli furry?"
That's a compound question.
X Futanari
X Loli
O Furry
I'd say sonic divers have higher chance than strike witches xD.
They'd go on strike.
Did you mean "strike units"?
Actually, developing Gundams isn't as bad an idea as it seems.
As long as you can get those Otaku and Hikikomori to do something meaningful, why not?
gagaga estos demonios japoneses nunca podran hacer robos mas grandes como mazzzinyer z gagagagag malditos a quel hombre qu quiera hacer un robo grande para mataral propio hombre este es un asesino terminietor ojala Dios les tome a cuentas a esto politicos chinos que se creen que son dioses no podran hacerlo antes vendra el fin del mundo anticristos criminales les mando al infierno con robos grandes para que los torturen terminietos
Otaku and Hikkimori =/= engineers, mechanics, and programmers.
Enginners and mechanics maybe (but if you give them the right stimulus, the otakus can easily acquire that knowledge, since they have insane willpower), but programmers? C'mon, they stay their whole day shut in their home in front of a computer. Even if they didn't want, they'd have some base of programming...
Gundam pilots =/= engineer, mechanics and programmers either, moron.
FUCK YOU LOLI PEDO SHIT! YOU WANT KIDS TU FLASH THEIR VAGINAS FOR YOU PEDO SHIT?
U mad
Another useless comment from the religious nuts, and once again I mention, why the hell you come to this site if you already know the theme to something with sex is always remembered?
I think giant robots at least in urbans areas would be useless.
And some with power of flight would be as heavy as a tank and engines with the capacity and consumption would be immense.
More useful to invest in robots and androids! Japan fictional in the future there is a coexistence as in ghost in the shell.
Once the extended life expectancy is no urgent need to increase the population.
Sex would be more entertaining, then why not with sexbots?
obvious troll is too obvious. or fuckin stupid. either way, real obvious.
Who doesn't like lolis?
You retard?
“Patlabor, you mean.” I concur
Whatever legged vehicle gets developed in the future, I think you have to keep it low to the ground. Cover is essential. The advantage of legs over wheels is on rough terrain, including urban terrain full of obstacles, stairs, etc. Something the size of a dog wouldn't need to be heavily armoured. It could be autonomous or remote controlled. Armed with anti-personnel ordinance and light armour, it would be fast and deadly. I can see it working up to the size of a small car (Smart car size,) but not much bigger than that. Once it gets any bigger, the extra fragility and complexity will overwhelm it. It's simple physics. Mass increase is cubed, while material strength increase is squared. It'll quickly be unable to support its own weight.
It's common sense that it's never going to be effective in battle. HOWEVER these things would be quite a tourist attraction.
Who can resist the thrills of piloting mobile suits and having skirmishes?
GUNDAM THEME PARKS, ANYONE?!
Super rocket launched on Tank !
It is super effective !
I still say a hovering death fortress is the best option.
Are you Sith Lords talking about building another Death Star?
U.S Military already did simulation and found that Giant bipedel machines are more likely be destroyed by a small Infantry division.With some improvements by the Japanese I am sure they might just prove the U.S Military wrong.
That's why they fight in outer space,isn't it?xD
Also,tanks can be easily destroyed by human infantry,because of it's movement/fireing restrictions. But unless it can fly like a real Gundam,it's useless because it would be tank/artillery/helicopter-food then.
But imagine the real thread that such a machine could bring with it. If I remember correctly, a Gundam is fuelled by an atomic reactor; wouldn't that make it a walking atomic bomb? If you dare to destroy it,everything in a radius of like 1-3 kilometres might just go poof,so what if it's taken out by some infantry division?That would be a Kamikaze-command to send someone/something against this thing. Just equip it with some fanatic and he will surely not hestitate to blow himself up with the machine if he's taken out by the enemy.
The Gundam is the perfect military-weapon, a weapon that cannot be attacked because you have to fear the consequences (like a terrorist equipped with an explosive belt) of an atomic bomb explosion. Whoever has this has got the power to dominate the world, and I hope Japan is the first and only nation that gets these Robots into its hands.
Metal....
...Gear...!?
It might be better to make Iron Man-type armored suits instead of giant robots like gundam. I'm sure it would be more cost effective and useful.
legs are never advantageous over wheels. Specialized gear-shaped wheels with excellent suspensions and shocks will handle rough terrain better than legs. This is the reason why tanks are never on legs except in sci-fi (ie- gundam/metal gear/mech warrior/etc...)
There is also the issue of guided ordinance. No material on earth can withstand a direct hit from a smart bomb with penetrating capabilities.
Not even with explosive armor?
The advantage of legs over tracks on the other hand, is non existent. Tracked vehicles are much more mobile.
Well, they would have a huge psychological effect...
A tank? Nah, give me an RPG...
A huge bipedal robot with an automatic rifle shooting tank rounds? *shits bricks*
And legs do have advantage over rough terrain, while in urban terrain they'd be less useful as metal legs would have almost no grip on concrete/asphalt... Also, depending on the actual mobility of the body, they would have a chance of actually avoiding missiles/projectiles. Though I doubt we have material light and strong enough to take the strain or an AI to make those maneuvers...