For snarky defense wonks, get ready as a new Star Wars movie means only one thing; a new military hardware to lambast.
George Lucas’ sci-fi trilogy has inspired the billion-dollar franchise. This is a series that abandons military tactics, physics, and common sense. Star Wars tech is cool, and the original AT-ATs were a cinematic masterpiece. But they do they make silly military weapons.
And this continues in 2017. We all saw images of new mega-machines that will debut in The Last Jedi: a new AT-AT, AT-M6 (All Terrain Megacaliber Six), and The First Order’s Dreadnaught.
The original Imperial Walker has a dreadful design. It was the result of a patronage scheme with a Sith-friendly robotics manufacturer. AT-ATs were terrible because of their size. Packing your invading troops into transports is a bad idea.
The Force Awakens’ Starkiller Base was an over-sized version of Death Star. AT-M6 is the same formula applied to an AT-AT. They kept the weird bumbling legs. AT-M6’s front legs bend at wrist and knee.
The forearms do not make sense to stabilize a cannon even if it is a giant one. The long arms result of evolution help simians get around the ground and trees. In robotics terms, advantages of a long-armed design will be to transition between modes of locomotion.
It is a geektastic idea it will clamber over massive defensive walls and tear down a rebel base. But if the agility of AT-AT is any hint, then it is not possible. Instead, AT-M6 is about a big cannon on its back. Instead of a slow moving troop transporter, it is a slow-moving fire platform that carries troops.
So then, what would have made AT-M6 better? Well, put tracks on it. That was the idea behind the robot CHIMP. Putting treads on the forearms gave it stability when rolling around any disaster zone. When CHIMP needed to act like a human, it stands up and uses grippers on its long arms.
Star Wars is fantasy and sci-fi. But we need weapons that make some sense. A little logic does not diminish imagination, does it? If that’s wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Joe Pappalardo, a frequent contributor to Popular Mechanics, has a new book, Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight which releases on November 21, 2017.
