Japanese Politicians To Discuss Building a Full-Sized, Working Gundam

[DGuller]

I think modern armor units are more effective, especially if you're recruiting them in a city with Brandenburg Gate.

[Malthus]

Japs..  Next thing they'll start believing in their animie cartoons.

Think of the next government of Manchuko being headed by sailor Moon.

The Hello Kitty death camps are particularly heinous ...

[Razgovory]

Big robot battles never did anything for me.  Battles should be done face to face.  With fists, or swords, or high powered rifles, or in armored tanks, or several miles above the surface of the earth.  But not in robots.  I did like the old Mechwarrior games for PC though.  Never could get into the tabletop version.

[DGuller]

I was always turned off my lack of imagination.  Why should the robots be shaped like humans, only scaled up?  The evolutionary pressures that shaped humans into their current shape were not exactly related to the needs of 20th century combat.  I'm sure that the most efficient shape for combat robots would be much different from the biped human shape.

[Tonitrus]

Exactly.  They should be lions first, that can them combine into a human shape.

[Siege]

Maybe the plan is to have a big target for the enemy to shoot at.

In all seriously, robots and drones are the future of warfare, but I foresee them to be as small as possible, maybe even nanobots.

Drone infantry is a matter of time, but why make them humanlike when other shapes and sizes would be more effective?

[Tonitrus]

Or it could be terrain dependent.  After all, tank-like drones are probably better for flat terrain, but for rugged/mountainous, you might want a quadruped, goat-like drone.  Ironically, human-shaped drones might be more ideal for urban environments (unless you're just going to level the area).  This, of course, assumes drones that are as adroit as their living counterparts, not some Robby The Robot clone, or even Robocop.

[DontSayBanana]

Or it could be terrain dependent.  After all, tank-like drones are probably better for flat terrain, but for rugged/mountainous, you might want a quadruped, goat-like drone.  Ironically, human-shaped drones might be more ideal for urban environments (unless you're just going to level the area).  This, of course, assumes drones that are as adroit as their living counterparts, not some Robby The Robot clone, or even Robocop.

I'd suggest hexapedal, actually.  If one leg fails on a quadrupedal machine, it'll still overbalance and fall.  Siege has actually got a point, though.  If the goal is just to aggregate or process battlefield data, a swarm of nanite machines would probably be a better choice.

[Razgovory]

Siege complains about women in the military cause they can't carry as much as their male counterparts.  How much does he expect a tiny nano scale robotic soldier to carry?

[Fireblade]

Siege complains about women in the military cause they can't carry as much as their male counterparts.  How much does he expect a tiny nano scale robotic soldier to carry?

You only need one to poison a well.

[Ideologue]

Drexlerian nanites are at least as stupid as humanoid mecha.

[Razgovory]

Where does the term Gundum come from anyway?  I keep thinking of a giant Belgian karate robot named Jean Claude Van Gun-damme.

[Razgovory]

Drexlerian nanites are at least as stupid as humanoid mecha.

This is something I don't understand, but I'll take your word for it.  Is there a type of Nano that would work?

[Ideologue]

Drexlerian nanites are at least as stupid as humanoid mecha.

This is something I don't understand, but I'll take your word for it.  Is there a type of Nano that would work?

They basically look like viruses and bacteria.

There are a few more robotic kinds, e.g. biochips, but if I'm not mistaken they again are principally biochemical in their mode of operation, rather than the silly things people think nanites can do, like swarm in the air (with what means of flight?) and communicate effectively with each other (by what means and with what power?) to accomplish reconnaissance (with what eyes? by broadcasting with what power or recording on what memory?) or even attacking people (infect, I suppose, but we already have nanotech that does that; it's called smallpox).

Unless someone has solved the chemistry and physics problems that would plague machines on the nanoscale.

[Razgovory]

I was thinking about more tame stuff.  Like little machines that can remove plaque in your arteries.