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Boy, Augmented Reality just keeps getting better and better! And it’s even cooler that some of the most amusing applications have come straight from users and tinkerers, not business outfit. That’s the mark of a field about to explode.

Like this video here where they test an application built using ARToolKit to create a working distance measuring gun of sorts. Imagine never having to measure the distance to the nearest toilet ever again! We truly live in the future! Oh.. and I guess the Mecha shooting a couple of giant beam lasers was neat too.

[Game Set Watch]

Remember the huge Gigantor (Tetsuyin 28) statue that went on display in Kobe, Japan a few months ago? Well it might not have been as big or imposing as the huge Gundam statue but it’s apparently been a huge boon to the local economy. Over a million people have gone to visit it since it opened!

With such a stream of people coming in to the exhibit local businesses have gone all out in taking advantage of the situation. How much so? In the clip above you can see Gigantor street lamps, Gigantor taxi cabs with manga collections inside, tishirts, vending machines, figurines and the number 28 written on pretty much everything! It’s kinda like Elvis’ Graceland only there’s no fat guys cosplaying as the giant robot… just yet.

[Japan Probe]

This is quite disheartening, it really is. Robo-One just took place in Japan, you’ll remember it as the place were Japan practices for the giant mecha battles of tomorrow. The best in Hobby and semi-pro robotics are in display and it’s usually a great place to go and see what the future holds.

Well, my friends, if this dancing schoolgirl robot is what awaits us… I don’t see what the hurry is. This poor thing just wobbles around like a coat hanger come to life. These are not the robo girlfriends our forefathers promised. This isn’t why they spilled their blood in war. It’s a dark day.

[Tokyomango]

Mark another one that after over a year of tracking went past my head, the giant Tetsuyin 28 statue built on Kobe for the character’s 30th anniversary was finally unveiled last month. No moving parts, no steam, no dramatic lighting. Just a quiet reminder of the founder of Japan’s dream of one day ruling the world with a robotic fist.

I for one welcome our future mechanical overlords.

Japan is at it again, trying its best to have mecha out as soon as possible. This time they are not going the giant robot route, a la Gundam, but are once again pursuing the power suit, a la Patlabor. Engineers at Kyoto’s Activelink Co. have developed this little beauty you see above, called the Dual-Arm Power Amplification Robot, or DAPAR for short. Sure it needs a better name but it’s nearly fully movable and amplifies both arm and leg movement, enabling you to lift over 90 kg without a hitch.

Yeah, it cant hurl armored vehicles like pillows just yet but they are aiming to make it fully mobile and have it in practical use by 2015. Add a couple of extra years and they’ll have the DAPAR swinging an oversized sword and firing an enormous sub-machine gun.

[Boing Boing]

You know how it is with technology and the Japanese. They cant build one giant mecha when they are already starting to build the next one. In this case its this 60 foot tall Gigantor statue, which we had heard nothing about for quite a while. At this rate the statue will be finished well before its fall debut and will, as depicted, command the attention and awe of every bystander in a 100 feet sector. Well except for that guy in the pink jacket to the left, he’s not impressed.

[Tetsujin-28 Project / Via Tokyomango]

Its time again for Slow Diamond, news we should have posted days ago but didn’t. Hurr durr, we’re such pros.

Remember that 59 foot Gundam that’s debuting on July? A few weeks ago it was well into construction and now its nearly finished! Congratulations Japan you just out-geeked every other country in the world. The freaking thing towers over every other giant mecha we’ve seen in the past.

Read more!

Remember that 18 meter tall Gundam we talked about early last month? The one that’s going to debut on July? Well, its coming along nicely! The legs are are all built now and watching the construction is simply breathtaking!

If this doesn’t trick your mind into believing real giant robots fighting on the streets are true then nothing will. You know what Japan? If it turns out this thing can walk and you were keeping it under wraps? I wouldn’t mind, and let me just throw this out there, I look dashing in a plugsuit!

[Heaven]

Unbelievable how this one went past me for so many weeks. After all we’ve covered a ton of giant mecha.

So a man in the US gets bored, maybe he builds a model train station, maybe he just drinks a beer and watches a game. A man gets bored in Ibaraki, Japan, and he goes and builds a fully functional giant beetle robot over the course of 11 years. Now that’s commitment!

The robot is fully capable of walking, albeit at a sluggish speed, and has not one but 2 cockpits as well as wing doors and a hatch opening at the top. This model, named the Kabutom MX-03, is actually the 3rd version of the robot as we can see in the video. Give this man another healthy decade and the arrival of our new robot overlords will be all but a moment away.

[Japan Probe]

Its been a while since we last talked about giant Gundam and even how much it would cost to make your own. But it seems man’s attempts to create replicas and strive for a real life giant fighting robot will never end!

The latest news come from Gundam’s 30th anniversary comity which will erect an 18 meter tall Gundam replica. The piece will be made of fiberglass and steel with 50 lights all over its body. Pretty cool, huh? Did we mention it will also shoot steam from 14 different places?

The exhibition will debut in July and last for 2 months, free admission  although it would be kinda hard charging people to watch an 18 meter giant robot standing in plain sight outdoors. Bandai is reportedly still figuring out what to do with the replica after the exhibit is done. I’m pretty sure we can clear up enough space here at DDN HQ by that time. I bet it would do wonders keeping door to door salesmen at bay!

[Gundam 30th Anniversary]