OK, forget steam power, gears and cast iron; you’re allowed to use modern materials and power sources, so carbon fibre, hydraulic pistons, titanium alloys and diesel turbines are all fair game.
Can we build a giant, self-propelled ambulating mechanical spider, on a similar scale to the one in the movie Wild Wild West? Or are the stresses/loads involved in such a thing just engineering impossibilities?
It shouldn’t be too hard to add a couple of legs to this. (Here’s the related thread )
I think the main trouble you’d have in scaling to wild west size would be with the feet. Like the giant Japanese warrior robots, your spider would sink into any ground less rigid than solid granite.
It’s certainly a very impressive piece of machinery, - certainly it answers the question from a co-ordination and control angle, but it’s way too small. And it doesn’t shoot explosive fireballs.
OK, but can we make it work on other worlds with lower gravity and rocky surfaces? The Moon? (OK, diesel turbines get more difficult without abundant air - can we make it nuclear-powered?)
Basically you’re talking AT-AT’s vs tracked tanks- a long run for a short slide, when there are far cheaper and more reliable ways of achieving the same goal: the question isn’t so much whether it’s technically feasible as whether it’s worth doing. Unless you’re a megalomaniac multi-billionaire with a penchant for arachnids, of course…
The military has built a big bug. Imagine basically an army jeep with 6 legs (ok, it looked more like a bug than a spider). The vehicle could climb over rocks and up mountain sides that were well beyond the ability of any wheeled vehicle. It was just an experimental vehicle though, and was never put into production. It was also kinda slow and clunky, not fast like the hollywood spider, but it did work.
All I’m saying is, what’s the point in having a military industrial complex if you can’t merge it with the monster truck industry? Far as I’m concerned, the US has a moral duty to build one of these things. At LEAST one. And frankly I’m not happy that there haven’t been any AT-ATs or X-wing fighters or Rocketmen yet, let alone Transformers. Seriously, keep up, will you?
It’s not like the war machines will be needed anyway, not if they decide to go with what is obviously the best plan.