Uses of mecha technologies outside of mechas?

[False Prophet]

How many examples are there in mecha anime about mecha technologies found their ways to other fields? Like, I think the Photonic Power Lab in Mazinger was powered by Photonic Energy like the Mazinger. Ditto with Saotome Lab in Getter. I really wonder if things like avionics technologies in Macross would eventually be used in civilian aircrafts and spaceships.

[Seto Kaiba]

How many examples are there in mecha anime about mecha technologies found their ways to other fields? Like, I think the Photonic Power Lab in Mazinger was powered by Photonic Energy like the Mazinger. Ditto with Saotome Lab in Getter. I really wonder if things like avionics technologies in Macross would eventually be used in civilian aircrafts and spaceships.

So... Macross has a few examples of this, and a few more marginal examples. In rough chronological order of appearance:

1. The thermonuclear reaction overtechnology reverse-engineered from the derelict codenamed Alien Starship One was applied not only to powering space warships and mecha, but also as a replacement for traditional power plants using coal, natural gas, etc. and as a power source for permanent research installations in space.
2. The increased demand for cryogenic hydrogen fuel influenced the auto industry to switch from gasoline to more environmentally-friendly hydrogen engines.
3. Advanced materials and the availability of fast sublight spacecraft enabled the construction of space colonies as well as the direct colonization of Mars.
4. Captured Zentradi clone synthesis systems were put into service in multiple capacities after the First Space War ended, being used to shore up the human population by duplicating individuals with essential skills. They were put into service by the New UN Government's Nature Regeneration Project to clone extinct species back into existence from gene samples stored in surviving seed vaults.
5. The same generic engineering technology in the clone synthesis systems was also used to create new species of designer bacteria that were used in the Nature Regeneration Project in a variety of different capacities, including cleaning up areas of radioactive contamination and regulating the composition of the planet's atmosphere to slow runaway global warming and keep the atmosphere breathable.
6. Advanced materials derived from overtechnology were also used to construct a massive 600km-diameter shade that reduced the amount of sunlight reaching Earth to slow global warming.
7. The advanced automated robotic factories captured from the Zentradi were repurposed and replicated to make materials-processing and mass production of material for Earth's reconstruction faster and easier.
8. Fold navigation and communication systems found their way into the public sphere, leading to the formation of civilian interstellar communication networks and commercial space aviation for both recreational and business purposes in the form of starliners of various scales and interstellar freighters.
9. Former military-grade mecha themselves eventually ended up in civilian hands for nonmilitary purposes, like the VT-1C Valkyrie and Destroid Work. Older models of Destroid were repurposed as construction equipment by removing and retrofitting their weapons limbs.
10. Spacecraft technology was applied to automobiles, allowing them to function as compact short-ranged space vehicles on Milky Road systems.
11. Zentradi cybernetics technology was replicated and improved for civilian limb and sense organ replacements.
12. EX-Gear powered suits were marketed for use in everything from extreme sports to tasks as mundane as heavy labor in construction and warehouse inventory management.

[Seto Kaiba]

Continuing where I left off... from Macross:

1. Holographic technology that was originally reverse-engineered from combat information center displays aboard Alien Starship One and used for similar purposes aboard UN Forces warships, and later in heads-up displays and for various other purposes in military mecha, has also been applied for civilian use in dozens of different fields ranging from projecting 2D and 3D monitors into thin air, public address and alert systems, holographic advertisements, the displays in personal electronics (e.g. cellular phones), and even holographic apparel that can change dynamically to any programmed form. This probably reached its fullest expression in a holographic AI-driven idol singer, Sharon Apple.
2. Improvements in robotics technology were applied to produce things like robotic vending machines, payphones, litter picking machines, and other forms of convenience robots.

[False Prophet]

Except the matter AI, the evolution of just technology in Macross is astonishing, considering how much time passed between the original and Delta. And humanity has just only scratched what the Protoculture has done. Who know what will the next Protoculture ruin they find will reveal--as long as it doesn't throw out a disaster or start another war.

Another example: The Cobra in G.I Joe vs. Transformer comic used the techs they learnt from the Decepticons for other weapons other than their attempt to create their own Transformer.

[MythSearcher]

How many examples are there in mecha anime about mecha technologies found their ways to other fields? Like, I think the Photonic Power Lab in Mazinger was powered by Photonic Energy like the Mazinger. Ditto with Saotome Lab in Getter. I really wonder if things like avionics technologies in Macross would eventually be used in civilian aircrafts and spaceships.

UC has some examples. I will skip the beam weaponry used on conventional fighting vehicles and the really common Minovsky-Ionesco fusion generators and related thermo-nuclear rockets.
The FF-08GB/WR is a fighter with the tail binder of S Gundam.
Beam Shields have been added to ships in late UC after they are common on MS.
Minovsky Drive/Wings of Light on V2 and earlier the Record Breaker(F99) and F90W is also used on Babylonia Vanguard class ships.(Mother Vanguard, Eos Nyx and Cerberus, although the drives one ship 2 and 3 are later removed, left over data and parts on the Eos Nys was used to rebuild an incomplete drive and installed in to Cerberus.)
The Cerberus also has an I-Field barrier on it, mainly to compensate for the incomplete Minovsky drive but works fine as an I-Field barrier.
And somehow Hasegawa feels like adding a large beam sabre on the Eos Nyx is a good idea, oh well, we get the Reinforce Junior doing pretty much the same thing using its beam shield focused in front for ramming so Hasegawa isn't the only one to blame.

For CE, the biggest sample will be Genesis, you have the PS armour and Mirage Colloid stealth system used on it.

For 00, you get GN drives and related technologies(Trans-Am) used on ships. Pretty sure the Sumeragi have the Quantum Jump system from 00, 00Q and Sakibure because it needs to travel interstellar.

[Seto Kaiba]

Except the matter AI, the evolution of just technology in Macross is astonishing, considering how much time passed between the original and Delta. And humanity has just only scratched what the Protoculture has done. Who know what will the next Protoculture ruin they find will reveal--as long as it doesn't throw out a disaster or start another war.

All in all, I think the proliferation of advanced technology from mecha into the civilian market is more obvious in the Macross franchise simply because that advanced technology isn't a product of natural human scientific research. It's reverse-engineered, reconstructed alien technology that humanity had to manually figure out the physics behind before it could be reproduced. As a result, humanity was naturally looking at every industry where those advances could be applied.

It's less evident in other franchises because the mecha there are primarily outgrowths of existing human technology rather than jumping ahead thousands of years overnight. In the few occasions where it isn't, like Full Metal Panic! having its advanced technology come in the form of knowledge of advanced technology being sent back in time, its origins are classified so heavily that it never gets a chance to make it into the civilian market.



Five Star Stories has a few examples I can think of where military tech commonly used in mecha is also used by civilians, but it's mostly limited to ezlaser generator systems used for various hover vehicles. Most high technology in that series is reserved for nobility and the knighthood.

[Mafty]

Another reason is the fact that Macross focuses more on the civilian lives of the characters than in other series. Often we follow a protagnists civilian life only briefly before they join(or are forced to join) the military; and from then on the civilians only show up infrequently, either as spectators watching the news, or as collateral damage. Macross on the other hand keeps one foot in civilian life as we see the Idol Singers issues, and at times the stll contiuning school lives of the protagonist. Even Macross Plus shows the civilian life through Myung and some of her old school freinds. The closest we probably come to near total military is in Macross 2 where every major character(barring Hibiki and even he spends most of the OVA hanging around bases) is either in the UN Spacy or the Mardook armies.

As for the other uses of mechs in civilian life...

Gundam continues to utilizes mini mechs as worker suits or scrap collecting equipment(ZZ, CCA,Unicorn) or modifies military equipment for personal use (the breifly seen Hobby Hizack in CCA).

I'm not sure how military this is but AE is shown to have used their mechanical abilities to build their own resort Colonies(ie, maybe Francesca in 0080)

Then of course theres the Jupiter Energy Fleet; which started off of a Helium Transport service, before developing into a full fledged military' empire.

Further in Advanced Generation we have the Mobile Suit races(which aren't actually directly seen) as well as mech building school clubs (Seen with Asemu in the Second Generation, and probably a refernce to Kamille in Zeta Being part of a similear group).

[MythSearcher]

Gundam continues to utilizes mini mechs as worker suits or scrap collecting equipment(ZZ, CCA,Unicorn) or modifies military equipment for personal use (the breifly seen Hobby Hizack in CCA).

I'm not sure how military this is but AE is shown to have used their mechanical abilities to build their own resort Colonies(ie, maybe Francesca in 0080)

Then of course theres the Jupiter Energy Fleet; which started off of a Helium Transport service, before developing into a full fledged military' empire.

Further in Advanced Generation we have the Mobile Suit races(which aren't actually directly seen) as well as mech building school clubs (Seen with Asemu in the Second Generation, and probably a refernce to Kamille in Zeta Being part of a similear group).

Those are still mechas so I don't consider them being used outside of mechas.(civilian used ones are still mechas)
Those MMS, JMS are basically mechas just like Labours in Patlabours. They existed before MS according to developers as heavy machinery and we also have the SP-W03 space pod.

Anaheim Journal has an article about that with some cool looking JMS.
AGE likely just took inspiration from that.(Because we don't really see Kamille building JMS on screen)
But these are still mechas if you ask me, they are just not the most prominent ones in the show.
Just like those walking machines in G-Reco are perfectly mecha(just not very efficient ones, but hey, most mechas aren't efficient)

Both UC and CE implied they have research on robotic limbs for the handicapped which are either predecessor or successor of MS technologies. (UC one not related to TB, but Developers)

[Kuruni]

Back in Daitarn 3, they build more non-transformable Daifighter and Daitank but otherwise functionally the same as Daitarn's alternate modes.

Technically speaking, mobile vehicle (RMV series, Local Control Guntank and Guntabk II) are more of tank enhanced with mobile weapon technology.

In Dunbine, it get blur because aura machine cover everything from battleship, humanoid mecha, non-humanoid mecha, plane, and what's essentially a balloon armed with flamethrowers. So it's more like the tech is used extensively in many field and mecha is just one of them.

One of the most glorious example is from Chodenshi Bioman. The final evil guy studies the anti-bio particle tech from an alien mech Balzion (he did developed his own early on, but it's nowhere as effective) and used it to built his final robot... which is merely a decoy. His true trump card is simply an Earth-shattering bomb developed from the same technology.

[SonicSP]

In Gundam AGE, the AGE System would eventually be used to make the Everse System, which is used to protect Mars from the harmful solar rays.

Gundam 00 has quantization. GN Particles in Trans-Am are also used to turn humans into Innovators (an active policy taken by the Federation later on) and also to boost the quantum brainwaves of Innovade. The Earth Sphere Federation also used GN Particles to block communications of pariah countries to strangle their economies in Season 2. Also while examples seen are inadvertent (Setsuna, Louise, Russell) rather than specific planned systems, GN Particles also has healing properties in some forms. Ali's handgun that he shot and radiated Setsuna with is also GN Particle-based.

00 also has a reverse example where mobile suits of the series are strongly linked with the Orbital Elevators. The material E-Carbon was an important requirement needed for Orbital Elevators and humanoid shaped machines were required in order to build them in space (coincidently or not, both the elevators and mobile suits were concepts publically credited to Aeolia Schenberg). Due to strong armed opposition to the project by some countries however, the humanoid construction workloaders eventually had to be armored with E-Carbon and armed in order to defend themselves and the basic concept of a mobile suit weapon was born. Eventually as the decades passed, the concept of humanoid machines that can equip the super strong E-Carbon armed with weapons was used outside of the Orbital Elevators and evolved to became the dominant weapon type.

Minor opportunism example in IBO, where CGS used old Gundam Barbatos' reactors as free electricity for many years. Also, the Alaya-Vijnana implant allowed Gaelio to walk again after sustaining heavy injuries during McGillis' assassination attempt. After he had it removed, he became wheelchair bound.

[Seto Kaiba]

I recalled an interesting example from a super robot series earlier.

In Godannar, a bunch of advanced technologies present in the world including commercial robots came into the market and became used even for school sports as a direct consequence of the various nations developing the super robots to fight the mimetic beasts.

Aldnoah.Zero is another Macross-style series-wide example where much of the setting's advanced tech came about as a direct result of reverse-engineered alien technological principles being applied first to military purposes, then allowed to trickle down into civilian living.

00 also has a reverse example [...]

A "reverse example" - where the mecha are an outgrowth of advancements in technology rather than vice versa - makes up the vast majority of advanced technologies in mecha anime.

There are very few true examples of advanced technology developed specifically for use in/on mecha later finding utility outside of mecha.

Gundam 00 has quantization. GN Particles in Trans-Am are also used to turn humans into Innovators (an active policy taken by the Federation later on) and also to boost the quantum brainwaves of Innovade.

I'm not sure those are proper examples, since those were all design-intent of the mecha and the concept originator Aeolia Schenburg.

Minor opportunism example in IBO, where CGS used old Gundam Barbatos' reactors as free electricity for many years. Also, the Alaya-Vijnana implant allowed Gaelio to walk again after sustaining heavy injuries during McGillis' assassination attempt. After he had it removed, he became wheelchair bound.

That's also kind of a "reverse", since Ahab reactors were developed before the Calamity War as a solution for Earth's energy crisis, and only later adapted to military purposes. Regular old UC Minovsky reactors are arguably more of a valid example as they were first used in military applications.

[Kuruni]

Well, in Cromartie High, after Mechazawa (lets ignore his claim to be a man for once, even if he's truly a man) clash his motorbike and become pieces, Kamiyama and Hayashida cobble him together...and turn him into a motorbike. It can extend wings and use rockets to fly, but is cleary a motorcycle and no longer their friend. This is proven in later chapter when he got stolen, freind theft isn't a thing but motorcycle theft is afterall (not that you'll tie your friend to a fence either).

A little more serious example is in GaoGaiGar Final. After Porc Auto is destroyed, they put his AI in a mundane car as a temporary body. Also in J-Decker, Shinjo Ken use Kagerou's super AI chip to control a submarine after wiped his personality out.

In Gundam AGE, the AGE System would eventually be used to make the Everse System, which is used to protect Mars from the harmful solar rays.

I think it's EXA-DB since AGE System is destroyed along with Diva.

[MythSearcher]

Strange example from Kyatto Ninden Teyandee.
While the revolver cannon they used to scramble the cat ninjas to crime scenes needing them, they usually use it to deliver pizza.(which also masks their true identity as government secret agents)
It kinda makes sense in context, it's comedy after all.

[E08]

In Gundam AGE, the AGE System would eventually be used to make the Everse System, which is used to protect Mars from the harmful solar rays.

I think it's EXA-DB since AGE System is destroyed along with Diva.

The AGE System is fine actually. The EXA-LOG chapter that first featured the Everse System noted that this system was jointly proposed by the AGE System and EXA-DB.

What the Diva has is the AGE Builder part of the AGE System, and since both Flit and Asemu were depicted as using new Wears in the side stories after their respective anime arc and they are not noted to be part of Diva's squad when that happen (if i remember correctly), it is possible there are additional AGE Builder elsewhere.

In any case, the MG AGE-1 Normal's manual noted that the Gundam is the core unit and data collector of the AGE system, while the AGE device is the protection key and has some sort of memory data. So, with both surviving the war, it should be possible to build a new AGE Builder if there is really only that one unit in the Diva.

[SonicSP]

There are very few true examples of advanced technology developed specifically for use in/on mecha later finding utility outside of mecha.

Alright, fair enough.

In any case, the MG AGE-1 Normal's manual noted that the Gundam is the core unit and data collector of the AGE system, while the AGE device is the protection key and has some sort of memory data. So, with both surviving the war, it should be possible to build a new AGE Builder if there is really only that one unit in the Diva.

Just to add, I recall the AGE System has this thing called the AGE Core or something, which is in the chest part in the AGE Gundams with the "A" symbol. This is the heart of the system seemingly and I think that MG sentence about the Gundam being the core unit and data collector is likely referring to it.

This core part is also transfered from machine generation to machine generation, from AGE-1 to AGE-2, etc which is why the previous gen main units like AGE-1 Flat and AGE-2 Dark Hound are missing that "A" symbol on their chests. Seems that it's almost irreplaceable or hard to replace? Since Asemu even took the effort to send it back to main civilization back to the Asuno family despite not returning himself.

I'd imagine they would have made new ones for the next gen Gundams if it was easy.....but at the same time a young Flit was being to create one too initially from the data he inherited, so it's an interesting thought.

Sidenote, I wonder whether AGE Builder main use is just for on field rapid prototyping or rapid manufacturing? It would make more sense that anything that can take time can be built somewhere else if needed. Then again I recall reading before that AGE System does have some weird quirks about encryption and stuff that made it hard to mass produce it's designs outside it's ecosystem. There was an Adele profile that mentioned something in that regard I vaguely recall reading years ago.

[Kuruni]

I think you mean the Clanche Prototype.

[SonicSP]

I think you mean the Clanche Prototype.

No, the one I'm thinking is Adele related. There was an Adele profile I recall that mentioned that Adele took decades to mass produce because of some peculiarities of the AGE System, in regards to it's data security or encryption. Knowing the forums I frequent at the time, would have been a translation posted somewhere here, Gundam Ages and/or Animesuki.

The Clanche Prototype also had issues too of course, mainly with the Hyper DODS not scaling well.

EDIT: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/gundama ... 7-s10.html

The Adele took 25 years long to develop due to deciphering the black box of the AGE system.

I tracked the translation, it's from the novelization, depends on how seriously you want to take it I guess since the novel's story can diverge from the anime sometimes.

Basically it took them a long time to decipher the AGE System's black box for the data. Strong DRM apparently lol.