Re: Infantry Walkers

Chen-Song Qin wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 23 Aug 1998, Noah Doyle wrote:
> 
> > Infantry walkers are at least as mobile and dextrous as Powered
Armor.
> >  They would not have to accomodate human limbs inside their limbs -
this
> > would allow a great range of motion.  I envision most IWs as roughly
> > humanoid, with the pilot sitting in the torso, probably very
cramped.  An
> > IW should be able to walk, jog, run, crawl, kneel, jump, everything
a human
> 
> Hmmm... do you know how many muscles it takes to perform these actions
> well with humans?  If you want to do this with some kind of vehicle,
> there's going to be a *lot* of moving joints.  All of them have to be
> *very* tough to withstand the strain, and also have to be very small
to
> fit into the walker.	This is also going to wind up being a mechanical
> nightmare to maintain and repair.

I remember reading somewhere of materials that contracted when electric
current ran through them, and relaxed when the current was shut off.  
I also remember that they weren't very reliable or strong, but it is
conceivable that these are 'merely' problems of engineering, and not
of the actual physics.

I guess my POV is that, if the physics makes it possible, or even
probable,
and the only problems are 'engineering' ones, we can let the
science-fiction
take care of that.  (So what if we only need to generate a black hole
and
drop it into the sun?  Mere engineering trifles.  (8-) )

J.
(Who was bred as a mathematician, so has no concept of reality.)

-- 
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