Real-life pilotable anime-style robots now on sale in Japan【Video】

Pre-orders open for Archax, which follows anime tradition right down to having an awesome start-up sequence.

Tokyo-based Tsubame Industries was founded in 2021 with the goal of “Turning science fiction into science reality.” Since there’s no more quintessentially Japanese version of science fiction than pilotable mecha, that’s exactly what Tsubame has built, and the company has announced that they’re now officially on sale.

The Archax, Tsubame’s debut robot, is a four-legged mecha with a fully enclosed cockpit. In its full-height “Robot Mode” configuration, it stands 4.5 meters (148 feet) tall, and even in its shorter “Vehicle Mode,” it still has a commanding height of 3.9 meters.

▼ Robot Mode (top) and Vehicle Mode (bottom) dimensions

The robot is controlled with a pair of joysticks and foot pedals. In proper mecha genre action, a voice intones “Hatch closed” and “Main switch on” during the start-up sequence. The cockpit has no windows, but the Archax’s body is equipped with nine cameras which can be displayed on the four monitors that relay necessary information to the pilot.

▼ Archax start-up sequence

Movement is provided by the wheels at the base of each of the robot’s four legs, with the rear pair being the drive wheels and the front two used for steering. While this aligns with the FR configuration favored by most sports car enthusiasts, the Archax’s top speed of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) per hour and weight of 3.5 metric tons (7,716 pounds) mean it’s unlikely to be able to perform drifts.

▼ The Archax in motion

The Archax has 26 points of articulation to its iron/aluminum alloy frame, with the body panels made of FRP and ASA plastic, and it’s battery-powered, making it a more eco-friendly choice than a giant robot that runs on gasoline. Tsubame says that it can also be controlled remotely. I’m not sure why you’d ever choose to not pilot a robot directly, but I suppose if you ever arrived someplace by some other means of conveyance and wanted to be able to have your Archax come pick you up, the remote-control capability is a nice extra.

Like a classy hamburger restaurant, Tsubame starts making your order once you’ve placed it, with a lead time of 12 to 18 months. That might sound like a long time, but you really do have to be committed to the decision to purchase one, since the Archax is priced at 400 million yen (US$2.74 million). That does at least include a year’s worth of any maintenance or repairs being covered by Tsubame for no additional charge, which is a reassuring extra since it can be hard enough to find a reliable neighborhood mechanic for your car, let alone your robot.

Tsubame is looking to build five Archax units for its initial batch, presumably delegating them via a lottery system should it receive more orders than that. There doesn’t appear to be an official online order sheet, so if you’re in the market for a pilotable mecha, the best thing to do is probably to email the company directly at info@tsubame-hi.com.

Source: @Press via IT Media
Top image: YouTube/ツバメインダストリ株式会社
Insert images: @Press
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