The Land Walker: The Future is Now

~Several months ago, I made a joke in this blog that the N-1 Pachinko parlor in Nagaoka is actually a hangar for a giant robot to protect Japan from a North Korean invasion. It was a joke, of course, because in real life, giant combat robots don't exist.

OR DO THEY?

^ [Click video to play] For only 36 million yen (~$345,000 ), you too can be the proud owner of a bipedal, 1-ton, 3.4 meter giant robot! The Land Walker is manufactured by Sakakibara-Kikai, a Japanese robotics company, and is intended for robotics exhibitions. I should point out that the guns mounted on the Land Walker fire rubber balls...for now.

Sure, it's slow (top speed 1.5 km/hr), but it's a REAL-LIFE MECHA! Give this technology 30 years (or less), and see what happens. Imagine a giant defense company pumping billions of dollars into R&D for Land Walkers, turning them from clunky, slow, bare-boned machines, into something like this:

^ [Yes, it's another video] More death and destruction...wonderful, just what we need. I get the feeling that it's going to be a lot less than 1000 years before BattleMechs are striding over the sands of Iraq...or the White House lawn.

Reminder: the Japanglish contest is still open. I've received a number of humorous responses so far, so keep them coming.
~Oyasumi!