Siliconera has made an interesting discovery dating back to 2017. Nintendo filed a patent that reportedly improves an existing Japanese patent for a passive walking apparatus, designed to carry various objects.
The original patent was filed in the US in May 2017 and was published during the month of December 2018. Since then, it's yet to be granted. The invention itself was first patented in 2011 by researchers from the Nagoya Institute of Technology in Japan. If you like, you can view a video of the walking apparatus to get a better idea of how it functions.
Based on the images, it could perhaps navigate more difficult terrain than wheels could. The apparatus has no energy source and is reliant on a person pushing it from behind. There are even brakes, ensuring it comes to a halt when necessary.
Nintendo's improvements are intended to make the apparatus more stable when walking. If its own hardware wasn't enough, the Japanese video game giant is now literally trying to improve the stability of this invention.
As for Nintendo's future plans for it, it's hard to say. It could be part of the 'Quality of Life' initiative that was thought to be dead, but it seems like a longshot. The original invention also has no links to video games. The images below show alternate designs for the apparatus, including one with a torso and upper body and a four-legged variation.
As noted by Siliconera, without a power source, this would limit what Nintendo could potentially do with the invention.
[source siliconera.com]
Comments 25
The return of Virtual Boy maybe?
Oh hey, I forgot about this. I wonder what Nintendo has up their sleeves next...
hehe. stability
Nintendo brand mech confirmed?
oh man. you thought the early versions of nintendo labo were a PAIN to assemble. wait till you see what the boys in kyoto got cookin up.
We’re reaching levels of stability that shouldn’t be possible
Another one of Nintendo's crazy LABO contraption. Last year was cardboard, maybe this year they are going for plastic.
It's based on Nintendo Ultra Hand made in 1966:
Now, you're walking with power!
Stability, ho!
Well...Nintendo never was just a "video game company".
This is all the proof we needed. Nintendo is no longer a gaming company, they are now a stability company.
2019 Labo V2, 2020 V3..
The only apparatus I care about is the Golgi.
Golgi, oh, woe is me.
Clearly we’re gonna be able to build real life mech suits to play Daemon X Machina in.
Nintendo GEAR
I would make a stability joke here but people have beat me to it.
Nintendo has been a video game company only for a fraction of its existence. Maybe some people there remember this and want to diversify.
Sony is a powerhouse in the game market because they can pull resources from other parts of the corporation if they need to, and the parts compliment each other. I fail to see how a walking apparatus works with video games, aside maybe from a new Switch accessory that will allow users to play comfortably while hiking
Powered by 3ds. It is always interesting to see the other aspects of Nintendo. As they are an entertainment company first and video game company second.
May be something for persons with walk-difficulties (like myself)
Quality of Life?
Surprised that nobody's cried about how this doesn't help "AAA" developers get on board yet.
Great, the next Labo will be fully autonomous robots...
So... a walker with brakes? Doesn't that exist? Oh, no wheels. Dunno... maybe this will be a new "game" called Fitness Walking that Nintendo will release later this year as a "sequel" to Fitness Boxing? Never know with Nintendo...
Golly Gee is that STABILITY I see?!
Hey Nintendolife, you've already reported on a passive walking device patent from Nintendo a little more than one year ago, which the article appears not to know. So this also does not completeley come out of nowhere.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/12/nintendo_files_patent_for_a_passive_walking_device
Nintendo looking to take Mario Galaxies into real space! Super Mario Mars Epic coming 2027
@nwel You have too much time on your hands
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