Mecha cosplay fanatics made a rideable full-scale robot based on the acclaimed Japanese animation Ghost in the Shell.

Footage shows mechanics operating a blue ‘Tachikoma’ – a spider-like, robotic combat vehicle endowed with artificial intelligence in the film.

Despite the robot appearing like a regular anime statue, cosplayers can actually enter and control its movement from the inside as it is equipped with wheels and moveable front appendages. The impressive costume was made to be worn this month at the Super Robocos Expo 2021 in Osaka, Japan.

Costeam5, the team that made the real-life Tachikoma, said two of its team members, Heinz and Moetetsu, specialise in robotics and armour-intensive cosplay which led to the successful completion of the project.

The bizarre niche is similar to cosplay, but fans make costumes out of mechanics, giving the hobby the name ‘mecha cosplay’.

The cyberpunk anime thriller Ghost in the Shell, in which Tachikomas make frequent appearances, was released in November 1995. The series follows a cyborg federal agent hunting ‘The Puppet Master’, a character who illegally hacks into the computerised minds of cyborg-human hybrids.