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
Mechas don’t make any sense. Let’s break down why.
Let’s imagine you want a fighting Mech. A fighting Mech has a few problems.
1) It has a lot of moving parts. Parts that break, need oil, and get dirt and sand in the joints. Ideally, you would have as few moving parts as possible.
2) It’s a big target. Ideally, it would be low to the ground to make it harder to hit.
3) Legs get stuck too easily, and are too fragile. At low weights, something can walk on water without breaking surface tension, but at very high weights, something like mud would be catastrophic. Also, slips and falls would be devastating. What would be better, is to put that mecc on tracks, so you can disperse the weight more evenly, preventing it from getting stuck.
4) Too much armor. Armor adds weight, and mechas need armor everywhere. What would make more sense, is to have a lot of armor on the front, and little armor on the sides and back just in case, and to just face towards your enemy Mecha. That allows your Mecha to be both fast, and tough, in most encounters
5) Too many weapons. Mechas always have, like 12 machine guns, 8 missile launchers, a big weapon, and maybe a small weapon as well. But it would be more effective to just have a single, powerful gun, and maybe a single smaller gun for light support. That way, it’s easier to penetrate through heavy armor.
The thing is though, we already have something like this. The modern tank. And that’s kind of the point. Mechas look cool, but the design of a tank is for utility, not appearances.
Now, you might say that mechas have other uses too, but I will bet that for any use that a Mecha might have, you could use a cheaper, simpler, and more specialized thing to do an even better job.
Mecha just aren’t very practical
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