# What is the most awesome machine ever built? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2003, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784 "2003-11-17T22:12:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/21 "2003-11-18T06:51:19Z")
The first thing to come to mind is the “wright flyer”, but I can see voting for the aircraft carrier. unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/22 "2003-11-18T06:57:23Z")
The Voyager I spacecraft. Nothing manmade has been further from earth than it… I think that’s pretty awesome. Plus, in a couple hundred years, it’s gonna bring us a black hole and a groovy bald robot chick. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/23 "2003-11-18T07:22:33Z")
[Giant mining machines](http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/images/oh/OHCUMbigmuskie_dawson.jpg) are always fun. Or Korolev’s [“N1” lunar rockets.](http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/n11964.htm) Too bad they all exploded. (At least they weren’t trying the [NUCLEAR POWERED versions](http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/n1nleara.htm) that might have been…messy) ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/24 "2003-11-18T08:02:21Z")
The [Apollo 11](http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ap11ann/introduction.htm) spacecraft has to be it. But this thread might qualify - anything that gets **Telomere666** to reply should get some sort of recognition. He/she is averaging one post per YEAR. ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/25 "2003-11-18T11:29:59Z")
Pimpbot 5000. He’s powered by dynamos and his stable is full of hos. ---
**Author:** ![Dinaroozie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Dinaroozie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinaroozie)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/26 "2003-11-18T11:31:18Z")
How could it be anything other than [the biggest computer ever built?](http://www.es.jamstec.go.jp/esc/eng/ES/performance.html) ~ Isaac ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/27 "2003-11-18T11:37:18Z")
Eh, they make the Biggest Computer Ever Built every couple of years. It’s getting tiresome. ---
**Author:** ![Armilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19b73/32.png) [@Armilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Armilla)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/28 "2003-11-18T12:03:34Z")
Some of the Krupp [giant mining machines](http://telepresence.dmem.strath.ac.uk/jen/lego/images/js70/large_bwe_lrg.jpg) are pretty awesome. It’s like an oil rig on wheels. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/29 "2003-11-18T12:18:44Z")
Allowing for time of invention, I nominate a chess playing robot which plays the ending of King and Rook v King. It is currently in the Polytechnic Museum, Madrid, and works using pulleys, weights and wires. it was built in **1890!** ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/30 "2003-11-18T14:10:15Z")
Well, there was the [SuperGun](http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/other/02_supergun.jpg) from [Project Babylon](http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/other/supergun.htm). But I’d still vote for the [Saturn V](http://www.nasm.edu/apollo/FIGURES/Fig49a.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/31 "2003-11-18T14:27:35Z")
On the non-serious front, I nominate [this.](http://www.robosaurus.com/) On the serious front, it has to be nuclear weapons. The OP said “awesome”. The idea of something roughly the size of a microwave oven that can release that much energy, and the understanding of pretty deep physics required for its construction, are both awesome. By comparison, an aircraft carrier is simply intricate. Lots and lots of parts cleverly arranged, but it’s still a boat. Ditto the aircraft, and I’m a pilot with a romantic attachment to flying machines. They’re complex and subtle machines, but not awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/32 "2003-11-18T17:24:52Z")
I’m not sure a nuclear device is really a machine \ A structure consisting of a framework and various fixed and moving parts, for doing some kind of work; or any device thought of as opperating in souch a way, as in electronic computer. Well it’s a stretch… Can we have more things with real moving parts please 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/33 "2003-11-18T20:27:45Z")
The RealDoll? Now with real moving parts? I’d have one, but I hear they’re a bitch to clean. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/34 "2003-11-18T22:26:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Armilla \* > \*\*Some of the Krupp [giant mining machines](http://telepresence.dmem.strath.ac.uk/jen/lego/images/js70/large_bwe_lrg.jpg) are pretty awesome. It’s like an oil rig on wheels. \*\* Oh, hell _yes_…I’m putting this baby on a _pinup!_ What? What are y’all looking at me like that for? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/35 "2003-11-18T23:51:24Z")
**Armilla** I had no idea machines like that existed outside of sf. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/36 "2003-11-19T08:06:20Z")
I’m surprised no one had mentioned the Monitor and Merrimack (aka the Virginia.) When the Confederates created the first ironclad out of the scuttled Northern ship Merrimack and renamed it the Virginia, the ship terrified the North. > [@](#): > > On Mar. 8, 1862, [the Virginia,](http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/M/MonitorN.html) commanded by Capt. Franklin Buchanan, sallied forth into Hampton Roads against the wooden ships of the Union blockading squadron. She rammed and sank the Cumberland, destroyed the Congress after running her aground, and scattered the remaining ships, all the while sustaining practically no damage to herself. The North thought it was going to sail up the Potomac and be unstoppable. To have the nation’s capital trembling in terror – now _that_ is an awesome machine. And then came the Monitor, and ironclad that rode below the water and had a revolutionary gun turret. It was a fantastic piece of work. I’ve read somewhere on the remarkable number of patented devices that went into this truly revolutionary design. And then the fact that the two ships met each other the very next day after the Virginia’s rampage – that’s just a piece of history that seems like fiction writers set it up. And naval warfare was never the same. If you want overall inventions rather than particular machines, I’d go with the boring old steam engine. Ho-hum today, but it launched the Industrial Revolution, having more impact than arguably any other device except the movable-type printing press. OTOH, I just got a look at the Chrysler Crossfire, and decided that’s the most awesome machine every built. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/37 "2003-11-19T13:30:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Armilla \* > \*\*Some of the Krupp [giant mining machines](http://telepresence.dmem.strath.ac.uk/jen/lego/images/js70/large_bwe_lrg.jpg) are pretty awesome. It’s like an oil rig on wheels. \*\* Holy :eek:! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/38 "2003-11-19T14:05:57Z")
Twain blew a small fortune developing it! You can see one in the basement of his house in West Hartford, CT. It has something like 5200 moving parts! ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/39 "2003-11-19T14:39:52Z")
In all seriousness, I do not think anyone has mentioned the multi-billion dollar **International Space Station** - probably one of the most complex machines in the solarsystem that we know of. To operate on such a high level of complexity and being non-terrestrial - I’d say it’s a sure bet. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784/40 "2003-11-19T16:45:18Z")
**Armilla** that is just beautiful, if I were a hundred foot tall mechanoid I’d ask her out for a date. **Satisfying Andy Licious** here is a link to a jpg of those two beauties [http://www.historyroom.com/Monitor%20v%20Merrimack.jpg](http://www.historyroom.com/Monitor%20v%20Merrimack.jpg) **Phlosphr** good call… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-awesome-machine-ever-built/213784.md?page=3)