Weekly ROBOZAK (RZ-1): Build Your Own Programmable Robot…with a Magazine?

Just announced today from publisher DeAGOSTINI, the “Weekly ROBOZAK” magazine will be available from January 9th. The concept has been tried before, is bold as hell, and will require serious commitment on the behalf of subscribers, but we can’t help but feel enthusiasm and admiration for it.

Simply put, every week for eighty weeks you get a new issue of the magazine, which includes a new part and instructions on how to apply it to your robot, dubbed the RZ-1. There will also be lots of other info and articles related to the project, its participants, and the future of it.

The first issue will be available from January 9th for 790 Yen, and you’ll be able to build the forearm of the left arm. Every following issue of ROBOZAK will be 1990 Yen. At eighty issues, that brings our grand total to 158,000 Yen, or $1,370 in today’s dollars (not eighty-four weeks from now dollars). An expensive price tag, but doing it on the installment plan like this brings perspective. It’s steep, but you’re paying for the experience as much as you are a kickass robot. Watch the video!

The RZ-1 is a completely programmable, 12-inch tall robot that can do much of what we’ve seen from the VSTONE robots we covered here, with full 360-degree action. It can walk, climb stairs, do lots of fighting moves, cartwheels, and all kinds of other things we here at CScout Japan would never try to do on our own.

RZ-1’s base is the ROBONOVA-I, and it allows the RZ-1 to be easily controlled via infrared remote. We aren’t sure yet whether mobile phones will be able to control it, but that would be cool of course. With the included CD-Rom, it’s possible to create your own moves and combinations together, and then upload them onto the RZ-1.

Specifications:
- Size: 310×180x90mm
- Weight: 1.3kg
- Torque: 7.4kg/cm
- Charge Time: 1 hour, with 40- 60 minutes of action
- Battery: Nickel Hydrogen

All in all, it seems to be great for beginners especially, but has a *bit* of a slow pace to it. It’s tough to imagine snapping two parts together and then waiting a week, and once it really gets going people are going to really want it all…like…NOW!