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Tech companies showed off a dizzying array of gadgets and gizmos, aircraft and robots, wheelchairs, and mobility scooters at this year's Japan Mobility Show.
The convention, formerly known as the Japan Motor Show, greatly widened its scope this year to show off potential futures of personal mobility.
One contraption in particular caught our attention: a minivan-sized, rhinoceros-like four-legged walking robot that can carry up to four passengers — and we'd like four tickets, please!
Baby Elephant Walk
The SR-02, a prototype built by Japanese manufacturer Sansei Technologies, looks like a cross between an AT-AT walker from "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" and a rhinoceros.
Its creative looks aren't a coincidence, either. The walking robot was designed to be a ride at an amusement park.
When it was first unveiled back in February of last year, Sansei claimed it was the "world's first quadruped walking robot ride" that can "carry multiple passengers," offering a "totally new experience of the dynamic motion when walking on four that riders can feel with their whole body."
The prototype is around 11 feet in length and just over five feet in width, giving its passengers plenty of space. It can be remotely controlled or operated directly by the rider.
Apart from the SR-02, companies at the expo also showed off tiny electric excavators, cute delivery robots with giant LED eyes, and buggies designed to take on "rugged and unforgiving extraterrestrial environments," as extensively cataloged by Ars Technica.
It's still unclear when or if the SR-02 will ever make it to an amusement park near you. But if you ask us, it could make for an excellent stand-in for an AT-AT at Disneyland Tokyo.
More on quadrupeds: US Army Brags About Plans to Mount Rifle on Robot Dog
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