48 replies to this topic

[MechWarrior6478661]

Danny Fubar, on 25 January 2015 - 09:26 PM, said:

A scary future awaits!
Until That Day!

You can say that again Col. scare the heck out of me too.

[Tordin]

I Guess mechs wont be a reality until we get alot more advancements in tech and a purpose for them. Guess in, 20 to 80 years THEN we might get some opportunities to take that Challenge. Also, just a quick question. Arent there quite powerful lasers today? If so, which laser type in th BT universe could they reasonably be compared to?

[StompingOnTanks]

This is the closest a military project has come so far.



The funny thing is, it's impossible to find on the internet exactly what happened with this prototype other than it existed.

So I would imagine most of it is a military secret. Which means there's probably a lot more stuff we don't know.

I like to imagine there are mech prototypes in Area 51 somewhere. Maybe. Possibly.

You never know.

[Lily from animove]

most of those echs are not actually walking, they have leg like designs, but wheels at their feeet that are just covered. So basically they are more like driving cars than what we would describe as walking mechs.

the timberjack is something walking like on a level of a industrial mech. But they are rather slow and far from combat proof.

Edited by Lily from animove, 27 January 2015 - 05:13 PM.

[Koniving]

Not sure if this video has been shared here yet, but the closest we're at right now.

[9erRed]

Greetings all,

There's quite a bit of research and design completed into robots mimicking insect behavior.
- From movement to intelligence.
- Using 'smart' code, powered by the Bigfoot™ Inverse Kinematics Engine which performs all of the necessary calculations for smoothly controlling the motions of the robot in real time.

Here's a small video of what could be designed on a larger scale, warning: if your scared of 'spiders' don't watch this.
http://youtu.be/HfiHOpv6HtI


This device is currently only a small 'toy' at this time, but very realistic in it's movement and very fast, actually scary fast. 26 motors with 3 in each leg. Make that mega size, fuel cell power, electric everything and it's one very quite and scary rapid transport.

For another design, operated with a Ps type controller, very dynamic, quick, and gives you an idea what could be done on a larger scale.
https://www.youtube....-yt-cl=84924572

The advances with the LS3 or 'Big Dog' for the military are steps towards having usable machines that can be a tool for the modern Battlefield. Matched with single load bearing units and advanced armour for special tasks, we are moving closer to 'force multipliers', but still very costly and difficult to produce in any numbers.

Just some additional info,
9erRed

Edited by 9erRed, 28 January 2015 - 10:27 AM.

[StompingOnTanks]

Just like to add - the research done by Boston Dynamics on BigDog and similar projects has so far said that the most effective and efficient method of legged locomotion is four-legged movement. So if we do see real mechs, expect most of them to be four-legged.

Obviously if we're building heavier and heavier mechs, the number of legs will increase to support the weight.

Bipedal movement has advantages too, but for really big and heavy vehicles - say a walking MBT - it has problems. The biggest two are ground pressure and balance, putting all its weight onto one leg every time it takes a step would destroy roads and bridges but I have a hard time believing it would sink into the ground like some people say it would. With more advances in technology we might see bipedal MBTs, the bipedal design in general is better suited to smaller things like drones and power armor.

Some realistic concepts that might work in real life:





This would be more of a drone than a mech, the concept is similar but no cockpit would make it smaller, lighter and probably more survivable.

[RiotHero]

To me Mechs have been real since I saw Ripley in Aliens.

[9erRed]

Greetings all,

With the race to build structures and habitations on both the Moon and Mars we may see some development in the fields of 'powered' exoskeletons for the operators of these locations.

- Just within this week NASA has been testing a 3D printer on the orbiting station and conducting tests for 0G printing.
- Having the ability to simply e-mail the specs or designs for tools and components would eliminate having to carry everything there and be dependent on a continuous supply of parts and resources from Earth.

If they develop the space-bound or 0G 'metal' 3D printing equipment, currently building/printing 'Space X rocket engines', this could be where we see the entire construction of Mech type of 'off-world' elements being used. Engineering, construction and moving parts of habitable structures or large equipment would require large, strong machines. Having the ability to build these 'on-site' is another step towards 'what we know as the development of Industrial Mechs.'
- The future is not that far away.

9erRed

Edited by 9erRed, 03 February 2015 - 02:12 PM.