I’ve heard building mechas is really difficult but there is no problem in building small humanoid robots (Boston Dynamics). So can’t we just upscale them and make mechas this way?
In: Engineering
Human shape is good for conserving energy while walking and for throwing things. If you’re running on actual engines instead of hoping not to starve over your next five days of death-marching that herd, and have projectile or launcher weapons that don’t need a baseball player to get their projectiles anywhere, it’s just lost most of its value.
When you go beyond the actual size of a human (armor’s one thing since we’re human-shaped, so load-bearing around you is something we’re working on that can do a lot for our soldiers) a lot of disadvantages prop up, from much of your mass being concentrated in each leg when you walk (tanks tear up the road, a biped the same mass would risks slamming its foot in the sewer) to being tall (higher center of mass, easier to spot). Lots of joints to armor too unless you want something that gets mobility-killed faster than a missile to the treads. You could get the advantages of height with a little sensor-boom or ‘periscope’, something we already do.
Many of the advantages would better serve a different shape: If you do need ‘limbs’ whether for swinging yourself around in microgravity without thrusters or for extending the reach of a weapon, that would still be better served – way better served – by taking advantage of not having to have it look human.
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