While there are essentially three Patalbor universes, all three do share the same kind of world. Patlabor is set from 1998 to 2002, so you could consider it to be alternate universe to our own. Surprisingly it is a world that is very similar to ours. This section details the background to the world of Patlabor, including the Labors and characters themselves. But first a brief rundown on the quite familiar yet sightly futuristic world of Patlabor's Tokyo is in order;
In the 1990's two disasters befell Tokyo; a devastating earthquake in 1995, and the world's polar icecaps melted due to global warming, causing oceans to rise and threatening to flood costal cites. In the early 1990's barriers were constructed to stop the sea from taking the land (it is not discussed in specifics in Patlabor on how or if governments tried to stop global warming). Tokyo also developed the "Babylon Project" which was designed to reclaim land and eventually fill Tokyo Bay. The rubble from the earthquake disaster helped to provide the landfill needed for the project. In the real world there are several reclaimed land projects in Tokyo Bay which cover over 249 km², however none are quite as ambitious as the Babylon Project.
An "Advanced Robot" project began in the early 1980's, which brought about a development in what was called "Hyper Technology". By the end of the decade the first prototype Labor was born. A great need for this type of equipment was generated for construction work due to the Tokyo earthquake in 1995 and other major projects. This led to the mass production in the mid 1990's of Labors, which are large scale humanoid robots which averaging about eight metres in height. They were used mostly in the construction industry during the late 1990's on large scale construction projects such as the Babylon Project where they made the work a whole lot easier. Various non-construction types were also developed including military versions, undersea and amphibious types. Approximately 45% of Japan's Labors, around 3,600 units, work in or around the Babylon Project. Though the real world still doesn't have any commercial bipedal robots yet (though there have been many advancements over the last ten years), computers and software play a big role in Patlabor, just like the current world today.
Tokyo still has it's problems. The major one is the critics of the Babylon Project. A protest movement sprung up against the project and several Militant environmental groups such as the Beach House, Home of the Sea, and the Earth Defence Family constantly use protest and sabotage to try and halt the progress of the project. And with the increase of Labors through out the city, Labor crime rose as well, such as Labor theft, robbery and even driving Labors under the influence and fights amongst construction workers. One of the most surprising and accurate predictions of Patalbor's future world was terrorism (though it was from religious fanatics in our time and not militant environmentalists). But even more surprising was the prediction of computer viruses contained in commercial software products, as seen in the first Patlabor movie.
To combat Labor related criminal activities, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD for short) formed of the Special Vehicles Unit Section 2 (SV2 for short). This section used Patrol Labors (or Patlabors for short) to combat Labor crime. While they have had some success, the problem is that most inside the police force, and the public seem to treat the SV2 as a joke and think they are a money pit. The SV2 hanger is stuck upon on a lot of reclaimed land in the middle of nowhere, and the first division's Labors aren't up to scratch. Division 2 does have better labors, but the personnel isn't what you would call officer material. The higher-up of the TMPD unofficially sometimes consider the SV2 as a dumping ground for problematic officers. Because of this and the nature of their work (Labors can be rather destructive) most of the time disaster and bad press seem to follow the SV2, despite the fact they usually get the job done and take on cases that other sections of the TMPD and even the military find too difficult to handle.
The SV2 is made up of two units. Each has two Labors headed by one captain. Both Labors have Forwards (the Labor pilot), a Backup (the person who drives the command car and gives instructions to the pilot), and a Labor Carrier (as it sounds, the person who drives the truck that caries the Ingram Labor). Division 1 is mostly made up of former SWAT team members from TMPD, while the beloved Division 2 is mostly regular officers who have transferred in from other sections, hence the two vastly different ways both divisions go about their work.
Please see the links below for more information on various aspects to the world of Patlabor.