Could TAGs and Mechs Become Reality?
August 4, 2012 by dracs
Whether it be Heavy Gear or Infinity, all of us love battling it out with giant Mecha robots. Well thanks to Japanese company Suidobashi Heavy Industries this could become reality with their new piloted robot the Kuratas.
OK, I realise this isn't wargame related news, but it was just so cool I thought that I would share it with you anyway. Finally our games look to be realised. Thanks Japan.
With its high tech targetting system, remote control capabilities and, of course, customisable paint job, the world of Infinity could be closer than we imagine. Although it does have probably one of the worst ways of firing its gun ever. The smile shot. Just watch the video, you'll see what I'm talking about.
Sure they could. Maybe as sort of nerdy nascar thing with shooting opponents?…because those things have zero military application.
I wish this was a reality lol but then anything is possible with enough money
No use to me.
1. I am not a cute girl.
2. As a miserable git there is zero chance of getting off a smile shot.
This thing is a toy, literally. We have the technology right now to make bipedal vehicles with articulated arms. They’d have to roll more than walk, but yeah it could totally be done. The problem is that there’s no reason whatsoever to do that. There is no advantage to a walking machine that even comes close to justifying the monumental cost. And as far as articulated arms go, sure there’s tons of uses for those but when was the last time you saw an articulated machine arm that looked even remotely human. Hate to break it to you, but these… Read more »
$100 for a cup holder too…
For this particular “model” perhaps. However, articulated legs on something like this would be great in say a mountainous region, forest, swamp, etc where regular tracked vehicles can’t go, or have extreme difficulty, so the viability of something that was actually made for fighting is plausible.
Which explains why no military is looking into it at all…it’ll either be light armored to go into those places, in whcih case a soldier with anti-material rifle will be cheaper and put quick end to the mech, or will be heavily armored and…well, topple, break ankles, get bogged and stick out like sore thumb, not to mention won’t be able to go into cities from fear of sinking through the roads into the sewers. As for japan and ingenuity…the last really innovative thing out of japan was the walkman. They’re great at improving tech, but all the recent innovative… Read more »
IIRC their is one being developed called “big dog” cos it looks kinda like a big dog. Its not meant to actually do any fighting, its supposed to carry things like water, ammo, spare batteries etc, or as a stretcher so there’s only one guy on the controls rather than a man on each corner of a tarp. Theoretically whatever they find works could be used scaled up to a few tonnes to carry offensive measures, but the nuclear equipped walking battle tank or space faring laser sword wielding samurai bot will probably never happen pretty much for all the… Read more »
Big Dog is a research experiment. It’s not deployable at the moment. (Have you heard the noise it makes? You’re not sneaking up on anybody in the woods with that creepy thing trailing behind you. You might scare the religion clean out of everybody within a quarter mile, but you won’t sneak up on them.) You won’t see it used as a stretcher in its current form either. It’s far too bouncy for transporting wounded. Mostly though, Big Dog is an experiment in real-time multi-sensory multi-output adaptive AI (the ability to balance on uneven or slippery surfaces and the ability… Read more »
Yes, sign me up for a mech that anyone can open from the outside…. I guess they dont have many car-jackings in Japan. Fun idea though.
It would seem from the airsoft gun option that this is more intended as a plaything- though probably not specifically for airsoft, or they wouldn’t have picked jam prone guns that will basically self destruct if you fire them on empty and cost a bomb to fix the simplest part…
Seems like the Tau will have to learn how to smile O.o
This show two things :
* Japan is a blessing for this planet, no place is so crazy and creative like them :). They have no problem with go wild with tech, specially robotics.
* Everything that gets enough attention and promotion in society will be real in the future. Just like happend with the tricorders and now with mechas.
hurls custard pie at miseryguts mpopke. This thing is GREAT. Massive kudos to the Japs for making such a mad fun thing and good luck with the sales….. and such a terrific sense of humour with the promo video too.
For the greater wood.
Big dog is just an experimental frame right now. Innovative but not much going on. Its redesign could become very scary indeed. Especially if you put a pintel mount on it and and a heavy anti vehicle weapon like a fifty cal or a auto grenade launcher. Even scarier if it begins to target and operate it it self. Laser guided turrets are already pretty effective on Humvees even turning some of them into tank killers. Big Dog isn’t “impressive” yet, but in a few years improvements to its technology and layering other technologies on top of that could become… Read more »
Lol wait till two guys decided to go head to head with this things…
Quite. “Sometimes they might hit each other” with those water propelled foam rockets on a smile shot! lol
The earth shall tremble and quake at the awesome waste of megayen.
Well, its a start, we have to get more heavy weapons and a lot more armor for this to be slightly usefull for anything close to millitary use. I think i saw something that was basicly a tank whit a mech torso arms and head on top is some game, that would be slightly more usefull. That said, ive had a reamergance of Battletech interest lately, so im all for mechs. The only real problem atm, is that for real world application, you want to hide, so a towering mech isent realy the way to go. The mech in the… Read more »
I can’t see mechs becoming something used in the military. They have far too big of a profile to be practical. Tanks are far more effective. You may be able to put a big payload on a larger mech that’s like the ones in battletech, but you also have to consider that when your 35 foot mech falls over, your pilot also falls 35 feet – ouchies! 😀
Precisely.
There are AFV rocket launchers that are devastating, but they are used as they always were behind lines. With modern guidance systems and surveillance, why would you risk multi mega buck pieces of kit that will get taken out easily due to their ridiculously high profiles.
And as mentioned, the life of a highly trained pilot.
Mecha would have to be low profile like tanks and or remote control drones.
They are cool in fiction and gaming but imho for all the above stated reasons won’t be part of the battlefield any time soon.
PS All things being equal.