Get your own Kbot for $1.4M

They are in fact called Kuratas, after their maker. That's some foresight there, Total Annihilation!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iZ0WuNvHr8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29MD29ekoKI

This is stupid and pointless, such a waste of skill.

Mike

Pointless? In case of a zombie outbreak, I'll hop in my Kurata and shoot them with 6000 BB gun pellets per minute.

You mean people aren't allowed to have fun?

Too bad the gun probably only holds around 1000 :lol:

Fine, the blackops mods are a waste of skill as well.

Supcom's a waste of skill.

PA is a waste of skill.

(they aren't, btw, but by what your logic seems to be here, they are.)

I agree, why isn't he helping the african children!?!?!?

At least there are others out there fighting the good fight.

Enryu T-53 service robot cleans up Japan post-earthquake.

Mike

Perhaps further development of such feats of engineering could make it cheaper for such commercial and industrial settings like cleaning up like that.

Benefiting us in the end.

Which are you talking about here, Kuratas or Enryu?

Mike

If it helps save people/make money with out killing people.

Then both.

But how does the Kuratas contribute to that? Fro what I've seen it doesn't offer anything towards that.

Mike

Both, technically. As Enryuu is designed for industrial work, while Kuratas can continue down the path of becoming something similar to the Patrol Labor found in the anime Patlabor, allowing it to operate as a police unit especially if the industrial types start getting larger for bigger projects then end up getting stolen for destruction rampages. It would give the police something that they could use to stop such problems.

Besides the obvious potential use of the Kuratas as an infantry support weapon by the military, once the technology is advanced further.

Well my thinking is that improvements to the way we build and engineer things like this will turn something designed to kill into something designed to save.

War is bad, but it does have a way of pushing technology forward in areas that don't involve killing.

From what I can tell, the Kuratas' only 'technology' involves smiling to shoot BBs, and to boot that's based off of technology from Microsoft's Kinect. as opposed to their own tech.

You want something applicable to the Military? Look up Bigdog, It recent got a Cinderblock tossing Arm.

Again, What is the Kuratas doing that's "Pushing the Envelope?", Your line of reasoning isn't wrong, for example the Space Programs provide Technology we don't give a second thought to today, but for you to be right, the Kuratas needs to innovate.

Actually, have they shown any footage of it moving around on it's own yet? Last I saw none of it's promotional footage actually shows it rolling around, they still had 3D Visualizations for that stuff and only showed basic Torso twisting and Arm movements.

Mike

I would have thought the way it moves (Getting taller and shorter) and the way it's legs are designed are quite innovative, and with more development I feel could be rather revolutionary for the way we design vehicles.

The Bigdog is not very applicable to the military, it is more a design that is working around using the full body motion as an alternate source of power rather then a standard power plant in order to power extra equipment that would otherwise require more power. Sure it can toss a cinderblock, but unless it was carrying equipment attached to it, it is not very useful. We already have robots that are better designed towards the goal of transporting infantry equipment that have been around for years.

The Kuratas is designed to be more of a IFV and while it may shoot BB's right now, to prevent killing people during testing, the thing is clearly designed to be made to handle much larger ammunition and weapon types.

You should go visit their site again. The promotional video I just watched on that site had the Kuratas rolling around on its own to display its movement capabilities, and they also showed its manned operation. The thing is fully capable of functional use without the kinect at all.

You better call up the DARPA then, it was funded by them "in the hopes that it will be able to serve as a robotic pack mule to accompany soldiers in terrain too rough for conventional vehicles."

Of course, Bigdog is just the prototype, the LS3 or AlphaDog and "Continued work is being made to make the LS3 more mobile, like traversing a deep snow-covered hill, or avoiding gunfire and bombs on the battlefield. DARPA intends to supply a Marine company with an LS3 by 2014"

From my perspective, this thing is clearly design ONLY to make profit from people with more money than sense, Have you seen the Options they have for upholstery?

I have seen no marketing to say this is a weapon development project, where was this said?

Back from the site, neither video(which are both from July '12) shows the Actual Kuratas rolling around, the city shots are 3D Visualizations.

Mike

I am looking more at future application and development of the Kuratas. Right now just to get the project fully off the ground they need a lot of money so they market towards hobbyists who have too much money. I basically consider the Kuratas they are showing off and marketing as being the test units for future versions that have both domestic and military applications.

If those are nothing more then 3d visualizations then they should be making movies instead of the Kuratas, cause they have some impressive CG effects.

But you don't think that particular process is odd?

Mike