158 replies to this topic

[Tom Sawyer]

When PGI finally completes CW and I can fight for my creds in house vs house, or house vs clan, or mercs vs mercs then I Battlemechs they will be.

But as long as I only get to drop, fight, die rinse and repeat.....

GIANT STOMPY ROBOTS front and center!

[Wrenchfarm]

Did someone say robots?

[HeavyRain]

"Locust gundam best gundam".
Guaranteed to make at least one enemy player start nerd-raging in chat instead of moving around and shooting, giving me a chance to shoot him with narc and a few lasers at the back.
60% of the time it works every time.

[Mechteric]

Some robots are actually operated remotely, such as those used by the military to handle explosives. They're still considered robots despite being operated by a person.

[Bhael Fire]

I like Star Track.

[CDLord HHGD]

Beware the battle Roomba!

[km1710]

Technically they ARE robots: they fall in the category of teleoperated robots. The remote station is just placed inside the machine itself.

Actuators and gyros are listed in the game, so as consequence there will be running low level real time closed-loop controls, working upon actuator feedback ( position, torque ) or some sort of impedance control to keep them standing up and aiming correctly - despite shake / damage - while you (the remote operator) will control the higher level functions.

This fits the description of real life partially autonomous teleoperated robots! except size and weapons, of course

[spectralthundr]

Alistair Winter, on 10 July 2014 - 10:46 PM, said:

First time I've seen someone start a thread about Vassago, and it wasn't started by Vassago.

I'm not sure why people keep feeding his ego, just ignore the Island troll and he'll eventually go away from lack of attention.

[Fut]

It's really funny to see so many people dead set on calling Mech's "Robots", when it's clearly not the case - at all.

Robot: a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer.

If Mechs were actually Robots, there'd be no need for Pilots.
Think about it.

Tycho von Gagern, on 10 July 2014 - 09:44 PM, said:

I call them mechs when I'm talking to people in the know, but to my girlfriend and others who have made it clear they could care less about my obsession with this game, they are and will remain "giant stompy robots."

This was my stance for the longest time - but how will anybody learn if you dumb it down for them?
My girlfriend now knows what a Battlemech is, and I feel slightly cooler because of this.

Edited by Fut, 11 July 2014 - 05:49 AM.

[Agent of Change]

Don't be mad about Robits bro.

[Mercules]

stjobe, on 11 July 2014 - 02:39 AM, said:

'Mechs are semi-autonomous robotic fighting vehicles; your dichotomy is too simple.

Minor correction bolded and underlined above.

Mechs are "robotic" but not fully robots. By the way you want to define robot many cars these days are robots. They automatically adjust fuel flow, learn driver's driving habits and adjust to them, can perform many tasks on their own such as parallel parking, and have proximity sensors that provide their driver with information.


Battlemechs are first and foremost a vehicle. They are, in general, anthropomorphic vehicles. The Battle tech universe has mechs in multiple roles, not just combat. They are used for industrial purposes such as the Forestry Mechs, or for offloading cargo, and many other tasks.

All of them have complex computers and programming to allow them to run all of their subsystems but there is always a human intelligence in the loop hooked into the neural helmet. They are not even semi-autonomous.

Quote

sem·i·au·ton·o·mous
ˌsemēôˈtänəməs,ˌsemˌī-/
adjective
adjective: semi-autonomous
1.
(of a country, state, or community) having a degree of, but not complete, self-government.
"Russia's semiautonomous republics"
2.
acting independently to some degree.
"semiautonomous working groups"

Without a pilot they can't even raise their arm, much less walk around avoiding objects. Now, the pilot doesn't have to concentrate on any of that because subsystems and programming handles all that, but without the pilot the Batlemech can not function and semi autonomous is self governing to a large degree.

[MeiSooHaityu]

There aren't just mechs, don't forget about Hercs!

Hercs are giant stompy robots controlled by either humans or AI.

Now that adds a whole additional level of confusion on the issue.

Thanks Sierra Online for that great Mechwarrior knockoff franchise (Earthseige).

[Faith McCarron]

I always think I'm talking to my grandma when people talk about "robots"

[CaptainDeez]

These Evangelions are awesome!

[Jonny Taco]

f-14's did have auto pilot so they actually are kind of robots...

[MeiSooHaityu]

CaptainDeez, on 11 July 2014 - 05:55 AM, said:

These Evangelions are awesome!

I was always confused by those. Are they really robots or imprisoned Angels? (Alien creatures).

I always thought they were Angels imprisoned by metal armor shackles and piloted by children. Then again, that show was so confusing and pretentious, it was crazy

[km1710]

What do you intend for automatically? At what level there is automation?

Because if you read my post, if we intend at lower level, it's always a robot, since it automatically translate your movement in actuator movement considering forces, structure kinematics and mechanical constraints, all in a small time window, continuously, and basing on pilot feedback.

If you intend at higher level, then it is a IA problem, not exclusively inherent to robotics world. Tge robot surgeon DaVinci is a teleoperated robot with sensors actuators and control systems, but it needs anyway a human to execute laparoscopy.

Robots can be autonomous or non autonomous at cognitive level, but they still have in common the automation of lower level controls. It's simply the top layer that changes - pseudo IA intended as neural network based cognitive learning, human presence, or a mere bash script. :-)

[CaptainDeez]

MeiSooHaityu, on 11 July 2014 - 05:59 AM, said:

I was always confused by those. Are they really robots or imprisoned Angels? (Alien creatures).

I always thought they were Angels imprisoned by metal armor shackles and piloted by children. Then again, that show was so confusing and pretentious, it was crazy

True, either way I need someone to fix the CT hitbox on my Timberwolf. That megadues feels like one big center torso at times.

[Magna Canus]

I had a few PUG matches where I seriously wished that mech's really were robots. The same kind of match where the turrets on Assault are better and more reliable team mates then the RL flesh-bags piloting the mechs. LOL

[Boris The Spider]

Totally permissible to call them robots IMHO, as robot does not mean AI controlled. A waldo (robot arm) is not AI controlled, nor is a robotic exoskeleton.