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Subject: Advantages/Disadvantages of a walking tank
theBird    5/22/2007 1:05:43 AM
Similar to a mech, (or mecha for the Japanesse minded), an armoured walking vehicle anywhere from 5 to 15 meters tall and armed with a variety of heavy and light weapons, either with a single pilot or multi-person crew. Alternatively a walking bradley armed with bradley type weapons and able to deliver a squad to the room of shorter buildings.
 
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WarNerd       5/27/2010 2:00:11 AM

If we have a powered exosuit, theoretically does it really need a human operator inside it at all times?

If properly configured, a powered armor suit could effectively operate in autonomous or teleoperated mode like some enlarged super battle droid, for situations where we don't want to risk human personnel.  Other times, the extra situational awareness of a person inside the armor might be useful for other missions.

Certainly bares further consideration.

The controls systems for an manned exosuit (~2m height that fits around the body) are very different from those of a robot (unmanned exosuit).  You are not driving or directing an exosuit, and you don't just wear it, to be truly effective it has to behave like an extension of your body.  It is the operators sense of balance and reflexes that guide it, not gyros and program feedback loops.  What has made designing them so difficult for the last 50 years since the projects started has not been the actuators and power plant, though these are only slowly being solved, but the control system interface with the operator.  Response time and force feedback are critical.
 
Using teleoperation would essentially require a second suit suspended in an operations theater to provide feedback to the operator, and large bandwidth to pass sensory information.  Otherwise, well ... have you ever though what it would be like to try to walk with your body anesthetized from the neck down so you cannot feel your limbs?
 
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WarNerd       5/27/2010 2:21:47 AM

A walker can step over obstacles.  How would the tank-crane handle that? It has to stay down low all the time (except the arm).

A good rule of thumb is your mech will have to be at least twice as tall as the tallest obstacle you want to step over.  Tall objects are difficult to hide and easy to hit.  low is good
 
And a crane doesn't only push and pull objects, it can also push and pull the crane.  I once watch a backhoe operator lever his rear wheels up on top a 3+ ft wall and then drag it the rest up using just the crane arm.  Or watch a drag line dredge maneuver some time.

The swampwalker could use some of it's many limbs to hold trees and the like.  Sensors would be used to identify the best footholds... 

Actually it cannot.  They are not designed that way.
 
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Mikko    It's already been done   5/27/2010 7:30:26 AM
Iron Man! What a franchise. Loved both of the movies. Nothing fancy, just really entertaining and fun in a boyish way. Of the genre, only Spider Man -trilogy comes close.
 
The one thing that I see as a lost opportunity was to play Black Sabbath's 'Iron man' in the same manner they played it on the trailer of the first movie; in an action scene with a right rhythm. Maybe the milk the particular song empty in the third one.
 
M
 
 
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StobieWan       5/27/2010 12:32:24 PM
I agree that remotely operated platforms are the way to go but I don't think you need any "SoldierBoy" style immersive interface to get it to work - hand the balance/movement off to the local platform in much the same way that the UCAV's don't need much flying right now -they pretty much do what they're told instead of needing continuous input to keep airborne.

Ian

 

 


 

Using teleoperation would essentially require a second suit suspended in an operations theater to provide feedback to the operator, and large bandwidth to pass sensory information.  Otherwise, well ... have you ever though what it would be like to try to walk with your body anesthetized from the neck down so you cannot feel your limbs?


 
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Mikko       5/27/2010 12:44:47 PM
I suppose an unmanned "exosuit", this Terminator -thingie, would need a laser scanner to keep moving fast; something that gave it instant feed on shapes and sizes that can't be accurately enough estimated by an operator. You know, a robot feeling the next step in the stairway with its toes is a slow one.
 
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AThousandYoung       5/27/2010 3:45:01 PM



A good rule of thumb is your mech will have to be at least twice as tall as the tallest obstacle you want to step over.  Tall objects are difficult to hide and easy to hit.  low is good
That only applies to bipeds right?


 



 
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AThousandYoung       5/27/2010 3:45:04 PM



A good rule of thumb is your mech will have to be at least twice as tall as the tallest obstacle you want to step over.  Tall objects are difficult to hide and easy to hit.  low is good
That only applies to bipeds right?


 



 
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flamingknives       5/27/2010 6:14:46 PM
Remote operation is all very nice, but depends on a permissive ECM environment and enough bandwidth to transmit signals through in either direction.

There are two ways to solve a bandwidth/ECM problem.
1) Give the operators physical connection to the ROV. Apart from very specific situations, this rules out wires so the operator must be in the ROV. So it is only an OV.
2) Provide the ROVs with a high degree of autonomy, making them Remotely Guided Vehicles.

Neither sits particularly well with the ROV concept.
 
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AThousandYoung       5/27/2010 11:26:22 PM
 
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AThousandYoung       5/28/2010 1:10:39 PM



That's a link to a youtube video about military exoskeletons btw.
 
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