If you’re a fan of Japanese manga and anime, I’m sure you’ll be aware of the country’s obsession with mecha, or giant robots. For decades the genre has dominated Japanese entertainment to the point where these giant mechanical robots have become synonymous with the country. In fact, humanoid walking vehicles are so popular that we’ve seen several Japanese companies spend years developing real-life versions of these giant robots. However, none are as cool or functional as the one developed by Tsubame Industries. Called the Archax, it is a real-world piloted humanoid that can transform like an Autobot. Crazy, right?
The Archax mech robot stands 4.5 meters tall and has a cockpit for a human to pilot the vehicle. The humanoid features four legs each fitted with a wheel that help it move about. However, the highlight of this giant mecha is its ability to transform. At the touch of a button, the pilot can easily increase or decrease the wheelbase of the platform. Obviously, the robot is the most stable at the stretched-out position, while the decreased wheelbase makes the robot stand tall, giving it a better reach. The first prototype of Archax is currently undergoing testing and the company has also uploaded videos of the same on its official YouTube channel.
Archax weighs around 3.5 tons, making it much heavier than a Ford F-150 truck. The structure of the real-life mecha is made from an iron and aluminum alloy, while the outer cover has been fashioned out of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP). The robot can be operated with the help of two joysticks, three large monitors, and various pedals inside the cockpit, and there are a total of 26 cameras to help navigate. In standing mode, Archax can reportedly reach a top speed of 1.2mph, while it can hit speeds north of 6.2mph when the wheelbase is stretched out. The mecha is also equipped with functional hands with articulated fingers that can be used by the pilot to lift objects that weigh up to 33 pounds.
Tatsuo Yoshida, Representative Director of Tsubame Industries said: “Science fiction world to science reality…We want to cherish romance. Dreams and romance It also has the role of heavy equipment useful for disaster recovery and space development, such as a boarding type robot that has actually been made into a shape, and has functions that extend the human body such as feedback of the feeling of what the robot is holding in the hand, and carries heavy objects. My ultimate goal is to develop a robot that is based on this technology.” The company will only build 5 examples of Archax, priced at approximately $2.75 million apiece. This makes us wonder, is the Archax one of the coolest toys for billionaires?
