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?

Question

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

Answer 1

Mechas are generally a bad idea, especially combat ‘Mecha. Take for example an Atlas battlemech from the BT universe. Ingame fluff and all that gives it a height of some 50 feet or so. Figure probably 15-20 feet wide at the torso. That is a huge frontal target area in comparison to an 8 foot tall and 12 foot wide Abrams, standing in for a Patton/Rommel, looking at it from the front. You are more likely to hit the Atlas and from a lot further away than an MBT such as the Von Luckner, Patton, Rommel or Manticore.