History Main / MotionCaptureMecha

* Ryan Walker, the main character of Series/MechX4, controls his robot with his movements.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'': 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.

* ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'': Piloting a Guymelef was done by moving inside a special harness placed within the chest.

* The Mashin of ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' 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.

* The Jaegers in ''Film/PacificRim'' exhibit an unusual version of this, with two pilots working in tandem to control the mechas. A [[MentalFusion neural bridge]] is necessary to reduce the mental strain of piloting a Jaegar, while leg and arm apparatuses on each pilot are used to translate the pilots' motions into the Jaegar's motions.

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

* Warstriders in ''TabletopGame/{{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.

* The third ''Film/SpyKids'' movie has a giant robot that Juni Cortez has to use against [[spoiler: 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.

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.

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. Both variants can be done through remote control technology.

* ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'': Called the Mobile Trace System, the pilot stands on a platform and wears a tight rubber suit which 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.

* Omnigears in ''VideoGame/{{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 decendents. This doesn't seem to stop people with regular Gears from making them replicate their own complicated martial arts techniques using regular control sticks.

* 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 [[JizzedInHisPants seeing an attractive girl in a short skirt]].

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{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 ''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.

* In the ''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.

* Parodied in the ''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 these a couple of Meowth-themed versions of these in the ''Sun and Moon'' series. It's usually the one way [[NonActionGuy Meowth]] manages to be a halfway dangerous battler against the heroes.

* Team Rocket, who routinely use HumongousMecha in the ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'', used these a couple of Meowth-themed versions of these in the ''Sun and Moon'' series. It's probably the one way [[NonActionGuy Meowth]] manages to be a halfway dangerous battler against the heroes.

* 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 it's 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.

* The Jaegers in ''Film/PacificRim'' exhibit an unusual version of this, with two pilots working in tandem to control the mechas. A [[MentalFusion neural bridge]] helps to improve synchronicity between the pilots.
** Mainly a Type 2 interface. The pilots are hooked into a rig that lets them manipulate the arms and legs of the Jaeger, depending on which side they're on (left pilot controls the left arm/leg and vice versa). Additional armaments and propulsion are activated via voice command and keyboards inside the cockpit. The opening narration also mentions a neural link to the Jaeger itself, but doesn't elaborate on how it fits into the control system save that it puts too much strain on the user's brain, hence splitting the load between two pilots.

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.

* ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'': This is how the titular mecha is controlled whenever Guy performs fusion with Galeon, who transform into a humanoid figure of Guy, and he stands within, allowing too do punches and kicks.

* ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'': Called the Mobile Trace System, the pilot stands on a platform and has a tight rubber suit which 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 Gundam verse which generally have nothing but joysticks.

* ''SuperDimensionCavalrySouthernCross'' 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.

* Hisako "Armor" Ichiki, from the ''Comicbook/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.