Real-Life Mecha! is nearly here

Inventor Carlos Owens lives in Alaska, where he is constructing a real-life version of the "mecha" exoskeleton popularised in sci-fi.


Heres a link to the inventors website:
neogentronyx.com...
A recent article about him on AAG:
www.americanantigravity.com...

Looks like the 'Mecha' is finally going to be here soon, can't wait to seeing it move around and jump! The mecha's arms are already fully functional and he's about to take away the scaffolding to let the machine stand on its own weight. Keep in mind this has all been done under the inventor’s own budget, at this point in time he's spent about $30,000. Darpa have a similar program focusing on nanotech suits for the average soldier, yet they are behind schedule and millions over budget.

Did you ever notice in mecha anime how everything around (buildings, people, cities, etc..) gets destroyed?


Still cool though.

Looking at that thing I really hope he has a good life insurance policy. I think I've seen this before and I don't think it actually runs. A bipedal robot like that needs some kind of internal balance system like the gyroscope in Asimo (I think that's the name) It doesn't look like it's able to shift it's wheight when walking nor does it look like the hip joints would allow it to brace itself agianst force. I also hope he's treated that steel because that thing is going to rust up out in his back yard. It would need a cooling system, at the very least for the cockpit since this most likely runs off internal combustion. From an artist's stand point I think the arms are too long, considering how much each arm wheighs it would drastically change the center of balance when you raised one up. Not to mention the stress on all the joints raising somthing that I'm sure wheighs 500 lbs minimum. Oh well, I'm sure we'll have mechs one day, but I doubt they'll have pilots in them, probably an Ender-esque video game control system.

As I said, he has demonstrated that he can control the arms and hands. But he is about to remove the scaffolding to allow it to stand on its own weight and test it walking. Give him some credit, its one guy doing all this in his backyard, and yeah I think he probably took some precuations against rust on something so expensive and sophisticated.

Anything is possible but i dont see this thing being able to move anywhere neer fluidly enough not to fall over, if he could practice in it then maybe, but he wont get many tries.

I'll give him credit for making a really cool toy. Animating the arms wouldn't involve much more than a fundemental knowledge of engineering and a few servo motors but I honestly don't think that thing will walk. Not without some sort of external support and i don't know where you would find a gyroscope that large. Look at the legs, in this sedentary position the center of gravity runs through the midsection and down between the legs, but behind the knees. The legs are equidistant from eachother in realation to the width of the body, right now each leg carries about 1/2 the wheight of the mech (ok, with the support sytem around it it's less than 1/2) If it were standing on it's own and attempted to place one leg in front of the other it would remove 50% of the support of the mech, in order to stay up the remaining leg would need to shift to beneath the center of the midsection and thusly be twice as strong as before. Other than that the midsection would need to be able to shift the wheight, in essence it would waddle like a duck. Because of the rigidity of the midsection the center of gravity remains between the two legs regardless of the position of the limbs and lifting one leg off the ground would make it physically impossible to stay erect. Even if the foot never left the ground and slid fowards it would leave the rear 1/4 of the mech unsupported and it would topple over. Now, think about the arms, fully extending the arms would shift the wheight of the mech fowards. To stay erect in that position the midsection would need to bend backwards far enough so that the wheight of the mech above the hips would be balanced on the legs, with the legs in the center of course. He could possibly rememdy that by extending one arm fowards and the other backwards at the same angle.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be a dick, I just don't think it will work. You don't really think about it, but there are a lot of muscles that go into taking even one step.


*edited for spelling

[edit on 4-4-2005 by Shadowflux]

exactly, I think in the walking testing phases, he should use some kind of zimmer frame or support structure which would catch the machine if it started to topple.

I think he should have it bend more at the hips and walk much like a gorilla using it's hands for support. Even that would take a lot of trial and error. If it were I that made it, I would have had it squat and given it treads instead of feet. I'd also probably make it the size of an RC car, cost less than 150 bucks and equip it with a bb gun, but that's just me. :p

this may b a stupid question but what the hell is Mecha can some one please explain to me the theme of the anime

its a mechanical exoskeleton usually in a huminoid form. If you've seen the movie aliens and virtually 80% of science fiction anime you'll see them in action. Check out the links i provided and it'll give you an idea.

Wow a mecha!!
I think this is some prop or toy or something, a whole human body made in a guys back yard; I don't know....sounds fishy!
I know how hard it is to make robotic stuff, during my undergrad we had to make this lame robotic arm that could lift about 250gms of stuff as a Control Systems mini project .Even though this sounds lame its damn, DAMN difficult to get right, the number of axis that the arm must move, the work volume, the dozens of small motors and sensors, the end effectors, their motors and finally the wires! hundreds of them into this small box to move the lame arm from point X to point Y -in short its INSANE!
From the pic shown I can't see any motors capable of lifting that monstrosity or the thousands upon thousands of wire that would be needed to control that thing. Also if this guy has done it in his back yard he would need to spend a lot lot on that, because to move a thing that size-it looks about a ton- would require massive custom made hydraulics to move the legs and arms efficiently. To run the hydraulics you need a big compressor and to run the compressor you need a large generator or a IC engine on the mech; now where are all these things on the mech I briefly went through the site and found no schematics of where each component is placed. That’s weird because that would be the first thing that would give a good picture of how it works and could gain more credibility as good work.
Its hats off to this guy if he pulls it off though! with working in your back yard and all its a real achievement like- henry ford building the first car in his barn (well not exactly as this won't replace cars!).
Also here is the mecha in another view with the guy who's building it!

well if it does work that will be cool. If big if he can keep balanced it would be cool I sure as hell would pay to watch giant fighting robots go at it. The little ones just can't do enough damage to each other. But if they ever got it to the point of military use I would say the new electric armor would work well with it. looks alot one of my earler threads...

Combat mech

This thing is way too cool. Kind of old news though, the article made its way round the net months ago.

Looks like the Japanese might have beaten this guy to it. Check out this page:
www.sakakibara-kikai.co.jp...

LoL that Japanese mech looks horrible moving. Looks like its doing a reverse moonwalk! The Carlos Owens one is gonna walk if he is successfull.

ewwwww jap one is a big toy with weels under its feet. reminds me of the toy robots you wind up and let walk across the floor.

Um, I know a few people who have built mechs. Actually they have used them in playing scenario paintball.

Go here

If it's broken it depicts a short video of mech's being used by a human operator inside the mech.

Seriously though folks, I have always been skeptical as to their practical purpose say, in combat?

What chance would a mech with vulnerable legs and operator have against an RPG? A tank? .50 cal machine gun fire? A fighter jet?

I would take any of those of that thing =/

-wD

[edit on 5-4-2005 by WeBDeviL]

Just wanted to say that this story has been covered a countless number of times on ATS and BTS.

Mecha stand no chance in hell against aerial drones

The Field could be swept clean of them by one drone at 60,000 feet, putting a laser point on each mech, which would in turn tell a ship 5 miles out at sea, or 200 miles from the battlefield, where to send the cruise missiles.


[edit on 6-4-2005 by Legalizer]

But mechs would have the ability of carrying super heavy artillery cannons, and they would probably have their own drones. So I think mechs will be uses in at least some battlefield applications. Their probable main purpose would be construction site work. Like the ones in the movie aliens.