Hank Fletcher

I smell an Internet scam. I bet "interns," or "test pilots" or whatever have to sign some manner of contract which obligates them financially towards the company, and towards confidentiality (i.e. turning the screws so that suckers taken-in can't warn others).

edit:
Further to that, they're offering 25% equity in their company for prime investors. Tell me, exactly how much do I have to put up to be a prime investor? I've got about a buck-fifty in change and I'm in a good mood. This is the most opportunistic website since Krumlink's... I mean Souperman's.

edit:
Check out their "booth girl," whatever that's supposed to be:
http://www.mechaps.com/fans/pictures.html
That's gotta be a dude! And why are they marketing at an Anime Expo?

I fear we might have frightened this guy away, but I really hope they come back. This is going to be fun.

edit:
Over the course of five minutes of sifting through their web photos I've gone from mildly amused to somewhat saddened by the extent of misguided ambition. Then again, he did try to pull one over on Krumlink about the nature of his company. I just have a bias against anything or anyone that's less than 100% transparent, I guess. Still, everybody's gotta have a dream.

edit:
I really hope he/they come back. Seems like they'd be good contributors to the robotics forum, if they're willing. They might even learn a thing or two.

edit:
Hey, their prototype's made out of Lego!

edit:
So they're going to save weight by using a jelly keyboard, but they're using three CRT monitors for displays? Uh oh, I better stop giving advice - I don't wanna inadvertently turn into an intern. But seriously, I-beams, you propose to make this thing out of I-beams, coming from Lego? Somebody run the numbers on the power needed for I-beam construction of their Lego prototype method of propulsion, and while you're at it the strain on the wheel portion of the leg. Make sure you fill me in on how it's going to stand on one leg.

theinfamousbob

Quoted off the forums:

"After carefully examining this site repeatedly and being proposed an intern position, I must regretfully turn it down. I am an Aerospace engineer major with a discipline in astro physics and I have carefully attempted to mimic these proposed designs on the website and none of which are even close to acceptable. The parts being used for this mech are used, subpar junkyard apparatuses and miscellaneous computer parts. such as old computer fans and a play-around joystick. For the core engine, all you people have is a ripped out car engine that hardly runs, any mechanic can do that (trust me, I used to work with mechanics). I am sad to say that this machine is all hype, there is nothing solid about this machine at all, the walking system is faulty, the gyro mechanics are completely nonexistent and you boast that you are 98% complete. You are only but 20% you still have a LONG, LONG way to go. Oh, and also, MAKE MINATURE PROTOTYPES. One of your representatives told me that you will just go to the actual size. That is the worlds worst mistake right there. You will shovel money into this project and INJURE people in the process if you don't do a scaled down replica and THEN do the proper math to scale the model up into proper proportions. I am sorry, this isn't harassment at all, it's just me stating some solid facts about a non-solid, mostly conceptual project. You guys DO have high hopes and dreams, that's excellent but you don't have the technical knowledge to back you up. Just a few anime geeks getting together thinking they can make a purely fictitious machine. There's a big difference between a Gundam (which you people POSTED ON YOUR SITE; unprofessional.) and a truly functioning machine like Sony's ASIMO. Look at the work and scientific research they put in to that. I just hope you guys don't hurt anyone in the process of developing this machine of yours from fallacies in design and rushed development. I hope was to some help to both the creators of this project and those who may be interested in it.

It's the sad truth, but it is reality.
Until more HARD proof is shown on this project, it's nothing more than a conjured fantasy in a junkyard.

(Edited by Reticon at 11:04 am on Aug. 31, 2007)"

Response:

" Dear Reticon,

Please DIAF,

Thanks,
Earle

-----
Earle Bishop
Project Coordinator
Mechanized Propulsion Systems"

Full thread:

http://www.mechaps.com/cgi-bin/board...um=1&topic=232


It all seems just a bit off. All of this secrecy, and yet under the downloads section there's a caption about downloading interface betas, one of the key parts of your mech.

All in all, I'm skeptic until I see just a little more progress, something to reassure everyone that this'll actually happen.

And if it does (assuming I have the $$) I will gladly buy one. It'd be the coolest thing ever, even if it wasn't really practical.


EDIT: I take it back. You're asking for a SS# on an unencrypted page? Good luck.

__________________
-Ian

Hank Fletcher

Earle surely will, if he doesn't change his ways. This is one of those moments in engineering that are so bad that I'm embarrassed to be associated even merely by criticism.

Papabravo

DIAF seems a bit insensitive to all those who have lost a loved one in that way. Especially if that loved one was a TEST PILOT!

Krumlink

Lol hank that was funny about my crappy website rofl

I had a buy section and a donate section. Hmmmmm.

Sceadwian

Does anyone remember many years ago a website that posted a series of logs from some apparent atempt to use a mass driver style vehicle launcher to put a space 'pod' through a 'recently discovered' wormhole? It was a great series, I kept up with it for a few months before it got too cheesy, but it was billed as being completly dead serious and many people that were 'fans' were convinced it was real, up until the very end. This remind me of that, and it's not the first time I've seen the website.

I however, no matter how much I think about it, can't think of so much as a single situation where such a construct would actually provide ANY advantage, over conventional equipment, especially for the cost. You could put 4000 devices on a swiss army knife and still not have the one you need. Why pay 100 times the price of the specific tool for a general purpose one when the specific one is perfect?

Ever seen the loader from Aliens? A real world forklift could outperform it in every aspect (aside from perhaps climbing stairs) In the end it's up to the operator's skill. I can put the tips of the forks of our lift at work anywhere I want them within a few milimeters if I approach it correctly, and if you watch the Discover channel they have a series which showed a major port's dock crane operator and they were slinging 10+ tonne crates around at unbelievable speeds with accuracy on the order of a half inch from 100 feet in the air.

__________________

Krumlink

This is their idea page

http://www.mechaps.com/fans/conceptsdb.html

Sceadwian, this sounds like the snake oil salesman huh?

Sceadwian

Especially since they use a game controller that you can buy on Amazon for about 65 bucks that looks like a set of bag pipes as the mech's controls.. I've attached a link showing it hooked up to an Xbox...
http://www.medgadget.com/archives/img/433453rutg.jpg


I used to play a game called Descent on the PC which was freeflight combat in a cave environment with a ship that had no gravity but intertial damping, so letting off the control slowed the ship to a stop. I could tripple chord on my keyboard in an ascending spiral helix around a central point only using a keyboard and tapping, and I wasn't even close to being the best at the game.

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dknguyen

Don't forget the added bonus of defending yourself against a queen alien. I'd like to see you do that with a regular forklift.

theinfamousbob

Found this on (of all things) the Myspace video site:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...ideoid=5860682

Seems like someone beat 'em to it, and this one looks prettier than a bunch of junk parts =D.

__________________
-Ian

blueroomelectronics

It's a toy like design on a large scale, it never picks its feet up off the ground and does not "walk" but slides its feet (on rollers). A curb would stop it in its tracks.

Interesting, not practical though.

I like the look of ED209

__________________
Bill
Smart Kits build Smart People
http://www.blueroomelectronics.com

Nigel Goodwin

I loved ED209, I liked his attitude!

__________________
PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at:
http://www.winpicprog.co.uk