The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Terrifying farm mechanoid plan for Japan

Anonymous Coward

Untitled 

Japan like most modern nations has a big problem in the country side, where young people leave for the cities leaving only older people to tend to the land. At least there making technology that may help the farmers, unlike here in Britain.

4a$$Monkey

Disappointing photo 

I was hoping for Aliens type cargo loader complete with blowtorch and optional minigun. Still early days...

Mike Norris

Aliens? 

Unhappy

I was envisioning more of a strap on JCB type of thing like the one from the cargo hold in Aliens rather than the rather puny one featured in the news article...

Sam

Been done (sort of) 

Didn't a certain Ms. Ripley drive one of these things (called a powerloader?) in Aliens?

Andrew Cooper

"strap-on robot suit" 

Coat

too easy

jai

big green lizard vs the mechanoid farmers 

"It's going to take more than a few hastily reprogrammed robot butlers to deal with them."

come back Godzilla, all is forgiven......

System 10 from Navarone

...most amusing! 

Happy

I think French farmers ought to consider the use of these performance enhancing suits during their next riot - I seem to remember a French farmer trying to throw a sheep at the police during a confrontation at the docks once (something to do with British imports I think). It didn't go very far (more of a drop really) - I scored it at 8 for originality but only 0 for effectiveness.

Robert Harrison

Cool 

Coat

Bring on the 'loader' suit out of Aliens. I've always wanted one of those, for farming purposes obviously...

Sweep

radish 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nachosan/3588274/in/set-16044/

Karl Lattimer

AVP: the game 

anyone who played Aliens vs. Predator will fondly remember the triumph to be had when playing a death match as the horrifically handicapped marine only to stumble across ALICE...

ALICE was a modified powerloader, equip with many handy tools to even out balance between the invisible predator or the nails aliens.

Steve

Low batteries? 

Coat

Just when you have 200kg of rice above your head ready to put on top of a pile...

Wile E. Coyote, anyone?

Fraser

Well 

I for one welcome Mecha-Farmerzilla.

He can help with that pesky giant dinosaur/moth problem that I've been having recently.

Anonymous Coward

Even older news than that... 

Happy

...the robotic power-loading exoskeleton was first devised by the famed British inventor, Mr. Wallace Park, as described in that classic documentary film, "The Wrong Trousers".

Anonymous Coward

and before that...... 

Alien

Harry Harrison - Captive Universe (1969)

Tawakalna

robot suits? 

Pirate

can it transform into an aeroplane or car?

Anonymous Coward

I, for one, welcome our new farming-based mechanised overlords... 

Black Helicopters

It's gotta be better than the idiot's we've got in power at the minute...

Morely Dotes

Re: Even older news than that... 

Alert

The basic concept was first developed in Robert Anson Heinlein's "Waldo," published by Doubleday in 1942. Waldo only used the upper-body portion, as I recall, and developed anti-gravity to solve the problem of getting around under Earth's gravity.

steven kraft

I can't believe nobody has already said this 

Coat

Robocrop?

Anonymous Coward

OMG......... 

Alert

Have you read any of the other 'most popular' stories on this site?

Why do they pr0n when they have news sites like this?!?

10/10 for literative titles though!

Benjamin Wright

Legal Contracts with Robots 

As robots become more common, questions arise about how they will be regulated. One way to regulate them will be to form legally-binding contracts with their owners.

http://hack-igations.blogspot.com/2008/01/robot-surveillance-contracts.html

BKB

Japanese radish 

Alert

A "Japanese radish" is the vegetable which can be bought in Indian groceries in the UK under the name "mooli". One Japanese radish can weigh two kilograms.

Ishkandar

Meanwhile, back at the farm.... 

Coat

...the frustrated farmers' wives will use strap-ons of another kind while the "boys" play with their toys !! The mind boggles at Robo.....

Ishkandar

Japanese radish 

Boffin

They are called Daikon and they can average between two and three feet long and between 4-5 inches in diameter !!

This is a deliberate separate post and has nothing whatsoever to do with the previous post !!

Ishkandar

*Correction* 

I should have said "circumference" not "diameter" !! I blame that on the wasabi bring tears to my eyes !!