History Main / MotionCaptureMecha

* The Ingram-98s in ''Franchise/{{Patlabor}}'' have gloves that the pilot can use for fine manipulation of the unit's hands. These are the only parts that can be controlled that way and they don't see a lot of use but the option does exist.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Gideon Rises", where Li'l Gideon controls one of these while wearing an ''actual'' mo-cap suit, complete with ping-pong ball sensors.

* Team Rocket, who routinely use HumongousMecha in the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime, used a couple of Meowth-themed versions of these in the ''Sun and Moon'' series in a ShoutOut to the aforementioned Mobile Trace System from ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam''. It's usually the one way [[NonActionGuy Meowth]] manages to be a halfway dangerous battle against the heroes.
* {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' by the [[AMechByAnyOtherName Arm Slaves]], which have their pilots strapped into seats in the cockpit but are controlled primarily by petals strapped to the pilot's legs and articulating armatures they slip their arms into. Moving the pedals and armatures moves the legs and arms of the machine, "slaving" the movement of mech to the movements of the pilot, hence their name. However, a cockpit limits the full range of motion, so Arm Slaves allow the pilot to set the sensitivity of the motions, requiring only small motions on the part of the pilot to enable large motions on the part of the Arm Slave. Lower sensitivity is easier for a novice pilot to use but limit the responsiveness of the machine, while higher sensitivity allows for more rapid maneuvers but requires much finer control on the pilot's part to avoid overbalancing and falling over.
* The Ingram-98s in ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'' have gloves that the pilot can use for fine manipulation of the unit's hands. These are the only parts that can be controlled that way and they don't see a lot of use but the option does exist.

* ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'': One of the various alternate modes of control of Coop's giant robot which resembles a DDR dance pad with gloves. Given how incredibly out-of-shape Coop is and it being unable to use any of MEGAS's weapons but its arms and legs, it doesn't work for long, which is probably why Coop made it the backup control system. It does manage to work well enough to buy Kiva time to fix the primary system.

* ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'': Called the Mobile Trace System, the pilot stands on a platform and wears a tight rubber suit that controls all the movements so it can function as a kung fu mecha. Special attacks are voice-activated. This is different from other mecha in the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' 'verse, which generally have nothing but two joysticks and two pedals, and ''maybe'' a few extra buttons or dials.
** In ''Anime/SDGundamForce'', the SealedEvilInACan Musha Daishinshou is one as well. Given that the entire country of Ark and its people is one big send-off to ''[[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam G-Gundam]]'', this shouldn't be surprising. Of course, unlike most Mechas on this page, Daishinshou seems to be partially sentient, as shown when it struggles against its binds. Luckily, when someone is in the cockpit, Daishinshou is totally under control.

* In Creator/StanislawLem's ''Literature/{{Fiasco}}'', the Diglators are controlled like this. It briefly backfires when the pilot reaches to scratch his nose and ends up smashing his head projector.

* ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog22022'': The final battle has Robotnik use the power of the Master Emerald to dismantle pretty much every vehicle in the vicinity and use the pieces to build himself the Death Egg Robot. At first he controls it with his own movements while floating inside the cockpit, until Sonic punches the emerald out of him and he's forced to switch to manual controls.

* Spoofed in ''Fanfic/Plan7Of9FromOuterSpace'' when the pilot wipes the sweat from his forehead and sends a slaved-arm crashing into his targeting sensors. He also activates his retro-rockets by farting and fires a riot-cannon loaded with sticky foam upon [[JizzedInMyPants seeing an attractive girl in a short skirt]].

* This is how the giant Reptar robot works in ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis.'' Chuckie eventually takes control of it, leading to a scene where the robot scratches its butt as Chuckie tries to yank a wedgie out of his shorts. Later on he uses it to beat another giant robot by imitating a Jackie Chan movie he saw on an airplane.

* Appears in the film ''Film/RealSteel.'' While most robots are remote-controlled (or voice-operated), Atom is equipped with a program called "Shadow Mode," which allows him to perfectly mimic a person's movement. Mostly this is used to pre-program moves used on command, but [[spoiler:Charlie later uses the Shadow Mode to help Atom fight against World Robot Boxing champion Zeus when the former's voice command receptor is damaged. Though the final match ends with Atom losing on a technicality, the spectacle of Charlie commanding Atom to pull off a classic [[MyDefenseNeedNotProtectMeForever rope-a-dope]] on [[DefeatingTheUndefeatable Zeus]] earns Atom the popular title of "People's Champion" and seems to herald a new era of Shadow Mode controlled robot boxing.]]

* Parodied and exploited in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Raging Bender": Bender is in an Ultimate Robot Fighter match against a gigantic robot who's wiping the floor with him. Leela discovers that the robot is actually being controlled by Phnog, Leela's hated old martial arts teacher, from underneath the ring. Leela fights Phnog, causing the robot in the ring to mimic Phnog's movements. Eventually Leela forces Phnog's arm straight down, causing the robot's arm to punch straight through the floor ''and hit Phnog''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Raging Bender," Bender fights an Ultimate Robot Fighter many times his size, who is controlled by Phnog, Leela's old martial arts teacher, whom she hates. When Leela realizes that Phnog is controlling the robot directly, she fights him and gets him to punch himself, using the robot's fist... knocking himself (and the robot) out.

PoweredArmor or MiniMecha may also use the second type to read the operator movement; this is closer to the "hard" end of the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness.