in many anime there have been weapons called mech, similar to the large robotic tool in Avatar, soo thinking about that do you believe that in the near future (8 yrs or below) we could be using such weapons in our wars?
Why would you want something that stands off the ground so much? Why are tanks built so low? To present a low profile target harder to hit perhaps?
I'd have to think the use for something like that would be very different from the uses of a tank. I'm not sure what those would be though. In other words, why would anyone even try to replace tanks with such a vehicle when they could field both?
I dont see them replacing tanks any time soon. There is a lot more stuff exposed which means there is a lot more stuff that can break or get blown up. This is why the US is not developing humanoid robots for the battlefield...non-humanoid forms generally make more sense for combat roles. They could be useful in an industrial capacity though. Or maybe against soft targets.
There is also the problem of mechanical bipeds to overcome. Walking on two legs (let alone running) is an extremely complex process that requires a whole load of effort to get a robot to emulate. There are true walking robots that have been developed but they are still very limited and are dedicated to that task. To create something that could move effectively through unknown and high varied terrain would be a huge leap to make before you get anywhere near the level of reliability and response that would be required in a combat situation. It's all very cool for games and stories but mechs are going to be staying there for the foreseeable future.
I dont think that is nearly as much of an issue anymore. Robotics has advanced quite a bit in the last decade. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww"]Boston Dynamics Big Dog (new video March 200 - YouTube[/ame] Keep in mind that video is from 2008, and was probably actually shot a while before that. Thats 4 or 5 years ago. Check out that part where they kick it over ice. Scaled up to the size of a tank it would probably be easier, not harder. I really dont think it is that Mechs cant work. I think it is just that conventional vehicles will work better. Tanks are specialists at ground combat. Jets are specialized for aerial combat. I havnt seen anything to indicate that that'll change anytime soon. The fact that Mechs can work doesnt mean they are better. (Even in Battletech they still use Fighters and tanks, heh heh)
Four legs good, two legs bad! The traditional mech is a biped and biped robots are significantly more difficult than quadrapeds. As I said, they have been made and are very impressive in themselves but (as with your example) they're dedicated to walking well - they have no additional capacity for all the things an effective military vehicle would need. While it would be perfectly possible to develop vehicles on this basis at some point in the future, I think they'd always be more complicated then more conventional chasis. Not necessarily easier I suspect, just very different. It's not the kind of think you can simply scale up and expect to work int he same way. The would be a number of things that would be easier I guess but a whole new set of problems to overcome too. That's very much my angle too.
A mech is completely possible. Is it practical? Not in any way shape or form. the amount of money it takes to build a standard fighting robot can price well into the thousands. And that is for a small toy with a saw blade operated by a remote control. Now imagaine if you had to build a giant robot with several points of artuciulted joints that have to move in operate fluidly in order to be effective at all. Imagine all the cables, joints, pistons, gears, and wiring that would need to be put into one legs of such a monstrosity. Now imagine two legs, then arms and a rotating head. Think of the cost that would have to go into making such a thing have the proper armor plating to cover the vulnerable mechanics. then you would of coruse have to take weapons and computer/targetting systems etc into account. In many animes MEchs tend to either A: In space, using thruster to provide ease of movement B: On a road or other flat ground using some sort of wheels attached to the bottom of the legs as a quick way from getting from point to point. such a system would limit the mechs use in terrain such as deserts or jungle. It would have to work on bidedal or quadpedal movement over such terrain. And a large size would limit that tremendously. Tl;dr: A mech could be possible to build. However the amount of funding that would have to go into making one would surely outweigh the benefits. We don't have magical quick thrust propulsion systems that can move a 20 ton mech across a city in seconds. It wouldbe limited to more or less the role of a tank, slow but powerful. But more than likely less durable.
The only issue is balance, and that has obviously been solved. The Segue is a perfect example that it can be done. Four legs will always be more stable, but that doesn't mean two legs is impossible. If four legs was always better everything would be walking on four legs right now. The early PROTOTYPES were dedicated to that. As with all technology, it matures. The hard part is the balancing and that is clearly maturing quickly...the robot in that video did things even organic quadrapeds could not do. I dont know if it would always be the case. But that will be the case for the foreseeable future. Look at how much the technology has already matured just in 10 or 15 years time.
