Robotics; Notes — This isn’t a robot.

I thought this show was going to be about robots. This isn’t a robot. It’s a remote controlled car with legs.

So the poll results are in, and the winners are Psycho Pass, Zetsuen no Tempest, Shin Sekai Yori, and Robotics; Notes. In a surprising twist, those were the four I voted for when I made the poll. So I guess that settles it, assuming none of the second episodes are a disaster.

I’m already disappointed with Robotics; Notes, because it’s supposed to be about robots. These aren’t robots. Robots move autonomously. These things need every servo to be remote controlled by a human. Lame.

What is it with Japan and its obsession with remote controlled humanoid “robots”? It’s just silly. First of all, if there’s a human selecting every muscle movement, it isn’t much of a robot. Second, why legs? Millenia ago, mankind made an amazing discovery which changed history and allowed the growth of civilization. It was called the “wheel.” Now they want to take a giant step back with humanoid robots. It doesn’t make any sense.

Also, meany-pants helmet dude is right. Having third-rate amateurs enter after only two weeks of work is, frankly, rude. It’s even more rude when you consider that their robot is eight years old. Plus, it doesn’t look like this is much a contest of engineering, anyway. Since they aren’t entering a robot. It’s a contest of who can buy the best parts and who has the best piloting skills. Perhaps some skill could be involved in making the robot easier to control. If it’s not a direct input to servo controller, I could see calling their toy a “robot”. But the kids are outsourcing this part of their work to their friend who makes video games! Stupid kids.

4 thoughts on “Robotics; Notes — This isn’t a robot.

  1. Honestly, this was the show I was looking forward to the least out of the stuff I planned on watching. Nothing about it interested me in any way, from the premise to the characters designs to the fact that I don’t care about mecha. And unfortunately, this show hasn’t done a single thing to fix that. Definitely the dullest out of the anime I haven’t dropped.

    Also, the only show that you’re blogging that I like so far is Psycho-Pass. What annoys me about the others is overriding everything I like about them.

    1. Honestly, it hasn’t interested me much yet either, but it’s about robots and I program robots IRL so I pretty much have to watch it.

      I haven’t watched the second episode of any of the other shows yet, so I can’t really say.

  2. Looking forward to your posts for this season! Except maybe for Zetsuen which I might be dropping if it really turns out to be a BL series. Too many interesting shows airing!

    I thought the same thing about the “robot” in R;N. I could imagine Japanese people like robots walking on two legs as they look like humans. This would be an advantage if future robots were supposed to interact w/ people like in care for the elderly. In any case I like the slice of life-ish feeling of R;N and I actually hope this show dabbles along for some further episodes before the mind-blowing S;G-style plot twists start.

    Btw, it seems all of the girls in the school are wearing toolbelts in different colours. So are the girls all working on some engineering projects and the guys form the K-ON-bu?

    1. There are definitely applications where humanoid robots would be useful. I don’t think it would matter in elderly care that much, but in traversing rugged terrain and stairs legged locomotion just can’t be beat. But the Japanese take these humanoid robots and put them in space and in the air and on flat ground where their legs are totally useless, it doesn’t make any sense.

      If everyone is doing engineering at this school, I wish I went there for high school…

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