Motion-Capture Mecha

This trope is easy for metalbenders.

"Fresh and ready for battle, I released the first steam valve and locked in the marionette-like motion activators.
Every movement of my body caused the Golem to react in like manner. I stomped across the battlefield, and struck the rock giant in the chest.
It grabbed me. I half expected the whole contraption to explode, but the golem stood solid.
I pushed back, grappling hand to hand with the creature! Imagine! Me, a simple engineer, locked in melee with a legend!"

— From the description of the Golem unit, Age of Wonders 3

A type of control system for Humongous Mecha, where the robot reads your movement like motion captures. This entails the user doing a movement, like miming walking forward or throwing a punch in the cockpit, and then this action is mirrored by the Mecha doing the same thing. This control interface is often used as a justification of the humanoid shape because it has more natural and graceful movement than one without the humanoid shape using the same system. Doing this justifies the mecha as an Impossibly Graceful Giant.

This usually comes in two flavours, free control cockpit room inside the mecha (or remote-controlled by same) or a large apparatus that the pilot fits into. The first type of control have the pilot wearing some kind of motion capture suit, or the room itself has a certain motion capture technology, and the mecha simply mimics it. The second type usually have a mechanized suit, or part of one, inside the cockpit, which is used to capture the motion and hold the pilot in place. The limitation, especially with the first type, is that the pilot has to be physically capable of performing any moves he wants the mecha to mimic.

Both types, however, usually need some kind of secondary input device (voice activation, thought control, computer-assisted action module, traditional keyboard, etc.) to compensate for anything non-human in the mecha, like propulsion, integrated weapons, etc. This is also needed to tell the mecha when to stop following the pilot's movements when he's ready to open the cockpit hatch and get out. Both variants can be done through remote control technology.

Powered Armor or Mini-Mecha may also use the second type to read the operator movement.

Compare Reality-Changing Miniature and Puppet Gun.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Landmates in Appleseed move their arms and legs like this: The thighs/upper legs are oversized to fit the operator's legs, while their arms fit in a pair of small "Master" arms in the mech's chest, which the larger "Slave" arms copy the movements of. Similar mechs appear in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (also by Shirow Masamune).
• A magical variant in Bleach. Captain Sajin Komamura's Bankai summons a colossal samurai golem, wielding an appropriately sized sword. The giant matches Komamura's movements, so a single swipe on Komamura's scale translates into a crushing blow from the giant that can easily demolish buildings. His Shikai state does something similar, but with only one body part at a time.
• Daimos is the very 1st one to have this in Anime, despite Kazuya sitting on the cockpit, only the arm movements are copied, but how does the leg movements get copied too?
• GaoGaiGar: This is how the eponymous mecha is controlled whenever Guy performs fusion with Galeon, who transform into a humanoid figure of Guy, and he stands within.
• GUN×SWORD: Priscilla's Brownie is the only one like this on the series. However, it's made clear that the system she uses isn't new, it's just that most people don't have the dexterity to pull it off.
• GunBuster: This trope describes the way the titular Humongous Mecha (and the mass-produced Sizzler units descended from it) are controlled, with girls sitting/standing on a really thin rod and using arm and leg servos. The Gunbuster itself also has a Guy in Back who controls the weapons with a keyboard.
• Gundam:
  • Mobile Fighter G Gundam uses this for almost all mobile suits, in direct contrast to mecha from almost all other Gundam series that are controlled with joysticks and pedals. 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.
  • In SD Gundam Force, the Sealed Evil in a Can Musha Daishinshou is one as well. Given that the entire country of Ark and its people is one big send-off to 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.
  • Gundam Evolve focuses on three custom Zeta Gundams in its ninth episode, one of which (that piloted by "Red Snake") has its normal cockpit replaced by a system that turns it into one of these.
• Mazinger Z: The Super Robot Genre Trope Maker showed a primitive form of this. Although Kouji used a pair of joysticks and an array of buttons, levers, and pedals to move Mazinger-Z, often Mazinger mirrored his motions inside the cockpit and vice versa (one example happened in an episode where a Robeast burrowed into the ground to try to escape. Mazinger-Z grabbed the Mechanical Beast's legs and leaned his body and head backwards as it struggled to pull the Mechanical Beast out of the ground. Inside the cockpit, Kouji was in the exact same position, doing the exact same thing).
• The Vision of Escaflowne: Piloting a Guymelef was done by moving inside a special harness placed within the chest. Depending on the variety, the Guymelef will operate entirely via specialized mechanisms on the corresponding body part, or it will biologically interface with the pilot directly for complete Synchronization.
• Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh: Ken-oh/Raijin-oh's motion control system is configured this way; pretty handy whenever Jin thinks of a fancy move to get themselves out of tricky situations.
• The Nirvash's final form in Eureka Seven mimics the pilot's movements. It even helpfully levitates them while flying.
• The Mashin of Magic Knight Rayearth operate in this manner, wielding scaled-up versions of the trio's Escudo swords and reflecting their injuries back on them, although the Mashin are more specifically guardian gods that take the form of giant mechs rather than being actual mechanical devices. Since anyone who "operates" a Mashin is shown floating in a magical void, it isn't made quite clear whether they are transported into a physical space within the mecha, or if they actually become said mecha.
• Downplayed in Gaiking: Legend of Daiku Maryu. The Power Glove feature of Gaiking allows it to mimic its pilot's hand and arm movements, but nothing else.
• Star Driver has this for Cybodies, though originally only the Ginga Bishonen Takuto had the magic sphere which allowed that. Come the second seal being undone and only those able to truly wield their Cybodies through their Marks are fighting.
• Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross mixes this with virtual reality with the Bioroids. The nerve impulses of the pilot are redirected to cause the Bioroid to move instead of the pilot's body. It's assumed that a similar method of force-feedback is also involved.
• Team Rocket, who routinely use Humongous Mecha in Pokémon: The Series, use a couple of Meowth-themed versions of these in the Sun and Moon series in a Shout-Out to the aforementioned Mobile Trace System from Mobile Fighter G Gundam. It's usually the one way Meowth manages to be a halfway dangerous battle against the heroes.
• Downplayed in Full Metal Panic! by the 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 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. In Patlabor: The TV Series, one sequence features Noa practicing with the mo-cap harnesses by tying a piece of steel cable into a butterfly knot.

Comic Books

• In The Incredible Hulk #275 a new villain named Blackbird breaks into Gamma Base and finds a bunch of discarded, never-used weapons. She's there at the behest of her employer ( the Leader) but can't resist using a Motion Capture Mecha called Megalith which uses brainwaves to move against the Hulk. Turns out there's a reason it's been scrapped without being used: there's mental feedback so that any damage inflicted on the mecha is felt by the operator. Oh, and the Hulk bashes it to pieces.
• In Wonder Woman (Rebirth) Byrna Brilyant's "Blue Snowman" Powered Armor gets leveled up into a Humongous Mecha that she connects to her cerebellum to allow herself to control it via the movement of her body instead of through a control panel.
• Hisako "Armor" Ichiki, from the X-Men, controls her eponymous armor like this. It's a psychic construct, so there's no control interface as such, but Hisako can be seen floating inside the armor as it mimics her movements, and the armor itself is designed to invoke a humanoid mech.

Fan Works

• Spoofed in Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space 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 seeing an attractive girl in a short skirt.
• In Evangelion/Street Fighter crossover Neon Genesis Evangelion Senshi No Michi, Shinji and Asuka are Ansatsuken fighters, and their robots are able to replicate their fighting moves, including their energy blasts.

Films — Animation

• The titular mecha from Ark (both of them) operates using this principle, where the pilot's pod is a floating blob connected to a power source, with the pilot controlling the mecha while in suspended animation.
• Megamind: Megamind's giant robot has a huge open cockpit with his "Black Mamba" costume doubling as a mocap suit.
• This is how the giant Reptar robot works in Rugrats in Paris. 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.
• A magical example in The Road to El Dorado, where Tzekel-Kan animates a jaguar statue via Human Sacrifice and controls it with his own movements.

Films — Live-Action

• The cargo loader in Aliens used by Ripley to fight the Alien Queen.
• The AMP suits in Avatar work this way, most noticeably when Quaritch is first seen piloting one. He points at Jake; the suit does the same. The arms, hands, and upper body are controlled directly from the driver's, including giving feedback against the limbs to represent resistance encountered. Walking and other movements are controlled partly via footpedals though — it is said that while it is very easy to learn the basics, operations such as getting up from a prone position take a lot more practice.
• The Jaegers in Pacific Rim exhibit an unusual version of this, with two pilots working in tandem to control the mechas. Their bodies are suspended on a harness that connects to the ceiling of the cockpit and latches onto their backs, while their feet are affixed to pedals on an elliptical track. Meanwhile, their suits project Hard Light constructs on their arms and hands to give pilots (and the audience) something to visualize in order to effectively use the Jaeger's weapons. However, all of this is to assist the mental synchronization and coordination of the pilots, since true Jaeger control is performed by a direct mental link. Without the physical component to bridge the gap, a pilot would not be able to visualize their own motions and thus send the command to the mech. But this puts such a strain on a human brain, successfully operating a Jaeger takes two pilots, and they synchronize their own thoughts, reactions, and muscle memory with a neural bridge. They also need to synch up deliberately; any other time, pilots are able to individually access displays, keyboards, and secondary systems just by reaching for them with their hands without having the giant mecha mimic their movements.
• Appears in the film Real Steel. 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 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 rope-a-dope on Zeus earns Atom the popular title of "People's Champion" and seems to herald a new era of Shadow Mode controlled robot boxing, with old-school boxers like Charlie at the controls.
• Robot Jox features giant robots whose pilots' movements are mimicked by the robots, thanks to their special suits.
• Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over has a giant robot that Juni Cortez has to use against Demetra in an arena match; by the use of a special suit, and moving in place on an open platform. Any movements by him are mirrored by the robot, although Juni doesn't get used to it right away.
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022): 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 Knuckles punches the emerald out of him and he's forced to switch to manual controls.

Literature

• In Stanisław Lem's Fiasco, the Diglators are controlled like this. It briefly backfires when the pilot reaches to wipe his brow and ends up smashing his head projector.
• Domina: America has "echoes," mini-mechs that mirror the pilot's movements. They're not seen often, but when they are, they are used to justify Instant Expert and Falling into the Cockpit, since in theory piloting one is the same as fighting normally.
• Robert A. Heinlein: The novella Waldo gave a name to remote manipulator devices, which the titular character controlled with special gloves because of his muscular disorder, and the novel StarshipTroopers features battle suits that fit this trope.
• In the second book of the Leviathan trilogy, the throne of the Ottoman Sultan turns out to be a gigantic, humanoid automaton that copies his movements as he sits beneath it, such as tilting his head or pointing at something. However, the thing is actually being operated manually by hidden engineers, and it’s noted that the sultan’s gestures are slow and sweeping to make it easier for the operators to read them and compensate.

Live-Action TV

• Super Sentai/Power Rangers:
  • Gosei Sentai Dairanger: Ryuuseioh, being one of the lightest Sentai mecha ever, follows Ryu Ranger's movements. Even better, it's apparently the face actor in the Ryu Ranger suit for these scenes (and visibly fills the suit out differently). This didn't translate into Season 2 of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, though, as while Ryuuseioh was carried over (as the Red Dragon Thunderzord) the Ryu Ranger footage was not. However, MMPR did show Tommy switching the Tigerzord into a mocap mode.
  • In Mighty Morphin' Season 3, the Aquitian Rangers’ Battle Borgs were controlled via psychic link, so the Rangers on the ground would perform moves that would be copied exactly by their machines. Of course, the machine getting hit meant you did too.
  • In Mirai Sentai Timeranger, Gien's ultimate robot, NeoCrisis, could be plugged directly into Gien, allowing the two to synch perfectly.
  • Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger: The Giganoid Inextinguishable, becomes this for Mikoto Nakadai/AbareKiller after warping the latter to his interior, allowing Nakadai to directly pilot it as if it were a mecha; of course the catch is that after enough energy is built up the Giganoid transforms into a giant Tree of Life meant to resurrect Dezumozorlya.
  • Juken Sentai Gekiranger and Power Rangers Jungle Fury had the mecha copy the moves of Rangers who exist in a "cockpit" that has no controls. Notably, GekiTohja and GekiFire/the Jungle Pride and Jungle Master Megazords require the movement of three pilots in unison.
  • Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger and Power Rangers Dino Charge has a setup similar to Gekiranger.
  • Since Saban re-took control of Power Rangers, several series have replaced the Sentai cockpits with mocap-style ones; including Power Rangers Samurai, Power Rangers Dino Charge,^note Yes, the cockpit was still replaced even though, as mentioned, its source material already had a mocap setup. Power Rangers Ninja Steel, and Power Rangers Dino Fury. A large part of this is that the mocap cockpit serves as an excuse to add merchandisable armors and weapons that the Rangers use as part of controlling the Megazord, but it can make for weird dissonance when the cockpit weapon doesn't match the Megazord's (the Rangers swinging a sword makes the Megazord fire its gun, for instance).
• Ryan Walker, the main character of Mech-X4, controls his robot with his movements.
• Tomica Hero Rescue Fire has X Dragon Robo. It actually has its own AI and can fight well enough on its own, but it goes into mo-cap mode when doing its Final Rescue. Its combination with Fire Dragon, Rescue King, actually is piloted by Fire-1 X, and is a true mo-cap mecha.
• Robot Combat League is all about these fighting each other. They allow for an impressive array of moves, with parries and such.
• In an unusual Western example, the unsuccessful Babylon 5 spin-off pilot Legend of the Rangers featured a Minbari battleship whose weapons were controlled by the tactical officer physically punching and kicking targets in a VR simulation of the surrounding objects.

Podcasts

• Not a mech, but the spaceship The Kestrel from Jemjammer is piloted by a person plugging themselves into the ship's helm and maneuvering it with their arm gestures. It makes drinking a glass of water somewhat difficult.

Tabletop Games

• BattleTech has a limited example of this. The pilot controls the mech using two to three joysticks, a throttle lever, two to four pedals, and a Neurohelmet.^note A limited Brain/Computer Interface which is used by the 'mech's motion computer to gauge pilot intent in maintaing balance, and also to give a kinesthetic feedback on the 'mech to the pilot to aid in such. Melee combat is normally accomplished by aiming at a nearby enemy and hitting the "punch" button to let the computer sort it all out, but some mechs are equipped with a waldo which the pilot sticks his hand in to control the mech's arm, for more finesse - a battlemech is unlikely to have one, but a IndustrialMech probably has one. BattleArmor uses hand signals to control its weapons; to fire the built-in lasers, one must point their index and middle finger forwards, clasp their ring and little finger to their palm, and then cover them with their thumb in order to fire. The rest of the battlearmor is controlled by servo-motors to assist the soldier's movement, or by eyesight to trigger heads-up-display elements. While Protomechs are too small for a full cockpit so pilots need to use their neurohelmet and enhanced imaging exclusively to operate it.
• Warstriders in Exalted usually work like this. The standard cockpit contains a leather harness the pilot is strapped into, while more advanced versions use other techniques to achieve the same effect.

Video Games

• The "Direct Motion Link" System in the Dygenguard from Super Robot Wars Alpha. As a Shout-Out to G Gundam and its Mobile Trace System, a pilot stands using a harness-like device to control the mecha through body motions, mimicking their movements inside the cockpit. This is perfect for the Dygenguard's Samurai pilot Sanger Zonvolt, who uses a sword hilt in the cockpit to replicate his sword techniques.
  • When Super Robot Wars: Original Generation: Divine Wars was released, the Valsione belonging to Lune Zoldark reveals a similar but earlier design of the Direct Motion Link System. In the Valsione's case, the system also mimics the pilot's face, since the machine is really a giant Robot Girl of sorts.
  • The Soulgain and Zweizergain from Super Robot Wars Advance, revealed via The Inspectors Animated Adaptation, also uses an off-shoot of the Direct Motion Link System but is instead known as the "Direct Feedback" System. While mimicking its pilot's movements, it also allows the pilot to execute Ki Manipulation through a build-up of emotions.
  • At least in the supplemental materials, all Shura Gods from Super Robot Wars Compact 3 uses an unnamed system that looks similar to the Direct Motion Link System. Regardless, this trope fits for Shura characters, since they're all martial art practitioners.
  • Uniquely done in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 with the RaiOh. After its pilot Touma Kanou was driven Brainwashed and Crazy due to the flawed LIOH System overpumping adrenaline into him, the Alpha Numbers deem the LIOH system too dangerous, swapping it out with the Direct Motion Link System. Touma, who knows bits of karate, is forced into Training from Hell by his peers to effectively use the system and its advantages. This culminates in one event where his mastery of using this trope essentially destroys any need for the LIOH System when he requests his allies putting it back into the machine.
• In Armored Core, the titular Cores are implied to be this, since their non-modular predecessor units are called MT's (short for Muscle Tracer). How this is supposed to work for non-bipedal AC's^note (like reverse-joint, quadrupedal, treaded, or hover types) remains to be seen. NEXTs in AC4 and for Answer take this one step further with a direct neural link between the mech and pilot.
• Arsenals in Daemon X Machina also operate like this, using a pair of cables in the cockpit that wrap around the pilot's arms (though Outers also receive neural implants that probably help). Every so often in cutscenes you might see an Arsenal shrug its shoulders, strike a pose, or even dance a little jig in mid-air to reflect what the pilot is doing.
• Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance has the magic version with Phobos, who creates a translucent shadowy monster for his boss fight, with Phobos floating in the monster's core where his movements translates into the monster.
• You pilot one in Krazy Ivan - in the opening prologue where you activate your mech for the first time, the cutscene shows you suspended from an exosuit in the cockpit, with you moving your legs to make the mecha walk.
• Metal Fatigue's giant Combots are controlled by a group of four, with the main pilot using this method to do all the major controls like moving and attacking. The rest of the squad then manages things like engines and other systems.
• Omnigears in Xenogears don't even require motion. They respond entirely to mental commands (you picture the robot moving in your head and the actual robot mimics this) and the cockpit it otherwise empty aside from a seat for the pilot to sit in. This is justified by them being essentially magic, created by an individual in possession of a Gear approaching one of several ancient artifacts and being "compatible" with it, which will promptly bond with the Gear. This new Omnigear will only respond for this person or their direct descendants. This doesn't seem to stop people with regular Gears from making them replicate their own complicated martial arts techniques using regular control sticks.
• Xenoblade Chronicles: Both the Bionis and Mechonis are controlled using this system, with the former magically copying Zanza's movements, even when he's outside the Bionis, and the latter copying Egil's Face Mechon, Yaldaboath, when it's connected mechanically inside the Mechonis' head. Mumkahr is also shown to be able to control his Face Mechon remotely, by moving his own body.
• Xenoblade Chronicles X: Alien-made Skells are shown to use a system like this: they stand up in the cockpit and it responds to their movements, with holographic rings surrounding their limbs. Human-made Skells are less advanced and use a levers and foot pedals arrangement, though despite this they seem just as mobile and dextrous as the alien ones. The humans all using remote-controlled robot bodies already may be a contributing factor.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Some, if not all, of the Ferronises use this system, with the pilots wielding holographic weapons that map to the robot's. The Ferronises given to Ethel and Cammuravi in Chapter 4 are an example of this.
• The titular machines in Titanfall seem to partly use this trope; the Militia's opening for the first campaign level (revealed in this trailer) show an AI Pilot giving orders to the ground troops from inside his Titan, with the cockpit open while the Titan mimics his hand gestures, suggesting that a Titan's upper body is controlled through motion capture. But this is all we really get to see of their control system so there's no indication of how they control the lower body. They could use the same control system as the suits from Avatar, mentioned up in the Film examples.
  • Titanfall 2 clarifies - Titans are equipped with a rather robust AI that handles a lot of the machine's movement in response to pilot instructions. If an AI receives a new pilot or vice-versa, it takes time and practice for them to be able to read each other perfectly. This is demonstrated through the campaign - at first, BT scoops Jack up in his robotic hands to help the board from below; in later levels, BT knows how to position himself so Jack lands right in the pilot's seat.
• Endless Legend has motion capture cavalry. The Cultists Of the Eternal End's cavalry unit, the Fanatic, is a horse-sized Endless quadrupedal robot which has its movements synchronized to a Cultist standing on top - the Cultist raises its arms and drops them to set the Fanatic's power source in motion, and swipes down with its hands to make the Fanatic strike with its legs.
• A variation in One Must Fall 2097 that crosses over with Brain Uploading: pilots in that game are 'chemically linked' to their robots. Instead of being in the machines, they are controlling it by remote of a sort. The neurons that would normally control movement in their own human bodies are instead linked to controls for the robot, such that the experience is less like piloting the machine and more akin becoming it. However, pilots do not copy nor transfer their minds to the robots; their brains are still in their own heads, and any breakage of the link between pilot and machine apparently snaps their awareness back to their body.
• Nintendo Labo: the Robot Kit set allows players to build a back-mounted apparatus that allows them to control the in-game mecha with their own bodies.

Web Comics

• Binnie in Schlock Mercenary has the construction waldo mimic the operator's movement, the first two panels showing the frustrated argument stance, and the next panels starting Binnie demonstration of the waldo's ability to delicately pick his own nose. It then leads to surprise self-decapitation.
• LIMBs in My Life at War have a single arm controlled by the pilot using a gauntlet on their right arm, leaving them free to operate secondary controls with their left.

Web Original

• The eponymous Ilivais X has the pilot suspended from retractable cables on all four limbs, which also detect the wearer's movements. This is also aided by a thought control system that involves projecting one's soul into the machine. The other Ilivais units made by the Gaia Forces (aside from the Sho) are outfitted with this same system.

Western Animation

• Megas XLR: One of the various alternate modes of control of Coop's giant robot resembles a DDR dance pad with gloves, which acts as the backup when the mech's car head is gone. Given how incredibly out-of-shape Coop is, and that it doesn't allow the use of any of MEGAS's weapons but its arms and legs, it doesn't work for long. It does manage to work well enough to buy Kiva time to fix the primary system.
• The second half of Batman Beyond's pilot episode had a lifting arm operated by a guy in the cockpit wearing a two-fingered mechanical glove. The Humongous Mecha Willy Watt takes over later in the season straddles the line between this and thought-control: the normal version is pure mo-cap, but after Willy is mentally linked to it, it does a lot more than Willy's equivalent motion.
• Parodied and exploited in the 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 Pinky and the Brain, while Brain's robot suit is controlled by levers that always seem to stick, Snowball's robot suit is controlled through motion capture. The suits may not seem giant, but they are to the mouse and hamster controlling them.
• In Steven Universe, the personal ships owned by the Diamonds utilizes this function. The Diamonds' ships in this case mimic whatever body part they're designed to look like.
• Parodied in Gravity Falls episode "Gideon Rises", in which Li'l Gideon controls one of these while wearing an actual mo-cap suit, complete with ping-pong ball sensors.
• The first episode of Total Drama Action had the cast dealing with a giant monster mecha controlled by Chef. When Chef tried to have the machine grab Owen, he was too heavy to lift and Chef hurt his arm.
• Upper body movement of the Colossus is controlled by Kuvira in the finale of The Legend of Korra. There is fine enough mocap control that she can manipulate the hands, as the trope image shows. It's worth noting that Kuvira is a metalbender, so she can control the Colossus without the need for any of the technology this trope usually entails.
• Codename: Kids Next Door: During the episode, "Operation H.U.G.S", Numbuh 4 uses a 2x4 technology version of one of these in order to defeat a giant Rainbow Monkey.
• The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) episode "Cyber-Turtles" features a team of aliens who possess Cyber-Suits, human-sized jumpsuits that when donned, transform into building sized robotic forms that follow the movements of its wearers. To combat the aliens, the Turtles also put on Cyber-Suits and take them on in a Behemoth Battle.

Real Life

• A Japanese four-legged robot that was developed to work in nuclear power plants or any other hazardous environment, subverts this. Its motions are computer-generated, yet an assisted control personnel can put on two four-fingered motion capture controls and assist in its hand and finger motions.
• The Robonaut series of space robots are designed to enable quick space-walks and repairs aboard the ISS via telepresence.
• The Korean Method-2 prototype, notable for being the first truly bipedal, rather than wheel-assisted, manned vehicle, is uncannily similar to the above mentioned AMP suits, including the control method for arms.

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