Tsubame Archax

Tsubame Archax is a mech (mechanized robot) quadruped on wheels, and the brainchild of Tusbame CEO, Ryo Yoshida.

There seems to be a growing trend in the Japanese industry of industrialized robotics, where creative teams are actually building functional mechs (read Gundam, Patlabor, Roujin Z, AppleSeed, etc…).

What Tsubame has accomplished with their Archax project is an impressive feat of engineering & industrial design; flaunting multimodal capabilities, converting from mech to vehicle mode (not to be confused with Transformers), where the legs spread apart, lowering the center of gravity, where it can then reach speeds up to 6 mph (about the max-walking speed of a fit human). Not exactly designed for speed, but I don’t think that’s necessarily the point.

Tsubame’s intentions with Archax, (at least currently) seem geared to appeal more to rich hobbyists than practical applications & use-case, (at least based on their company modus operandi), which is especially apparent with their $3 million dollar price tag.


However, rumor has it there’s also ambitious intention to apply the use-case of Archax for lunar exploration initiatives, although details on how they plan to achieve that are fuzzy. And given Archax’s limitations (e.g. it can only lift 20 kilograms / 44 pounds per arm), and it’s not really built for precise work, augmenting Archax for a use-case beyond simply a billionaire’s new expensive toy, seems a few iterations away from becoming reality.

Still, the Tsubame Archax project is an impressive realization & concept of classic Japanese anime mechs; and although a part of me would love to see these mechs used for things, like construction, excavation, etc… the reality is that, if scaled, it would most likely be co-opted & leveraged for military purposes.