4/5/2004: Massive debris-clearing robot

The Japanese, leading the way again in this sort of thing: it's a five-ton robot whose job it is to get through massive debris in the case of disaster, helping rescue workers get to people buried in it.

From the full story, each arm is capable of lifting 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds) and when they are fully extended the two pincers are 10 metres (33 feet) apart.

It will also frighten the crap out of any survivors, making them believe that our evil robot overlords have arrived in the form of the bots from the various "Robocop" sequels.

And the first of the overlords is named "tmsuk".

Holy FUCK that thing is scary. All it needs is miniguns to be out of manga or two fucking huge heavy repeaters and some paint stripper to be straight out of the Matrix.

500kg doesn't seem like enough for most situations though, when you're dealing with concrete slabs...

If that thing is able to work in conjunction with, say, a search dog, it will be a great assistive device for things like building collapse or multivehicle accidents.

It will be interesting to learn how it is operated, and if it is autonomous to any extent.

It's design does appear to allow it to be more effective than the usual assortment of construction equipment that is used for this kind of search and rescue/recovery work currently.

If you look closely there is deffinately a cabin in the front for a person.

Here is a close up of the operator.

Um, unless that's a dummy or something, the two orange dudes carrying the blue guy don't seem to be too concerned about his/her health...

I think TMSUK, no so gracefully, just swatted the mock victim with a storm door frame. Doh!

Originally posted by Griff
Here is a close up of the operator.

ah, my daughter's namesake

Originally posted by lumberjim


ah, my daughter's namesake

Ellen or Ripley? Either way, that's neat!

I used to work with a guy who dated her in college. Seriously. He had pictures of them together, it was definitely Sigourney.

Ripley Jane

Originally posted by Uryoces
Ellen or Ripley? Either way, that's neat!

Oh, Fuck!

I thought her name was JANE Ripley......shit...now I have to re-name my daughter!

fuck shit damn piss hell

Now there's a story to tell your daughter...

Originally posted by jaguar
If you look closely there is deffinately a cabin in the front for a person.

I reckon it'd be a bloody tight squeeze to fit anyone larger than a 6 year old in that 'cabin'.

Uh, have you ever meet a Japanese person? That's an extra-large cabin there! (This is not an insult, just a fact.)

Originally posted by Pearcie (AUS)


I reckon it'd be a bloody tight squeeze to fit anyone larger than a 6 year old in that 'cabin'.

Japanese.:)

Hehehe, yes I'm aware Japanese ppl are generally of small stature, I still stand by my comment.

You guys did get me thinking tho, how cool would it be if they made a few dozen of these things and then realised they were really not that good at rescue missions....so they made a few adjustments and presto...ROBOT WARS: Mech Warrior Style!

I would pay good money to see a few little Japs smashing, shooting, cutting and grinding up each others mech in some kind of thunderdome.

That would be a Robot Wars I could definitely enjoy!

(The cabin could be enlarged for the western version of the show:) )

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto!

Nihongo-ga hanase masu. :p

Sukoshi dekimasu.

show off:)


oooh, ohhhh!......say "whale penis" in japanese!

I have it on authority from a friend in Japan that an appropriate translation would be

kujira no chinko

She also says, "There are other words for penis, but I'm not going to look 'em up at work. Kintama is balls if you want a bit more to work with."

Originally posted by lumberjim
Ripley Jane

Pete had a dog named Ripley when we met. Same source. Good strong name for a girl.