Challenge: make Lovelace's spider machine in "Wild Wild West" reality

With a POD no later than 1800, have technology develop which will allow American forces (at least in the Confederacy) to develop Lovelace's spider machine by the time depicted in the movie. Assume the "laser guns" are flaming cannonballs.

Assume the movie takes place in 1875, midway through what would be Grant's tenure as president. The movie shows that he is president at the time.

Note that the Confederacy could win the Civil War in a situation like this (assuming the Union doesn't get the secret)...and wars are very good at spurring development of new weaponry.
 
Last edited:
Figure out some way to have Eli Whitney- after, of course, he invents the Cotten gin- turn his attention to developing a weapon of
this sort.
 

Kaze

Banned
I would start with a base. There are several derelict steam ships and paddle-wheel steamers from the war - this will serve as a base and as a powerhouse, you might need two. Then you need a crap ton of iron to making it ironclad. Now the hard part - making it able to walk.


1868-DederickSteamMan600_1.jpg

Zadoc P Dedrick & Isaac Grass's steam-powered human-like robot designed to pull a cart. The invention was patented on March 24, 1868 - would be a good way to start with having it walk.

Keeping a secret would be the hard part.
 
A more successful Babbage builds his Difference Engine and kick starts a technological revolution in the early 1800s. This eventually leads to the spider tank thing.
 
I would start with a base. There are several derelict steam ships and paddle-wheel steamers from the war - this will serve as a base and as a powerhouse, you might need two. Then you need a crap ton of iron to making it ironclad. Now the hard part - making it able to walk.


1868-DederickSteamMan600_1.jpg

Zadoc P Dedrick & Isaac Grass's steam-powered human-like robot designed to pull a cart. The invention was patented on March 24, 1868 - would be a good way to start with having it walk.

Keeping a secret would be the hard part.

Cyberpunk 1868
 
Hokay, So, having Rewatched The Clip, this monstrosity is probably impossible. Put simply, the Legs are Too Thin and have Too Many Joints to be workable then, and probably wouldn't even be workable Now, at least not at that scale. I mean it's notable that the closest modern example of a Spider-Bot I can think of has Legs with 2 Joints, whereas the Legs on that thing had 6 Joints.

However, if you reduce the number of joints and thicken the legs, basically if instead of making it literally a Spider with the Proportions to match but instead just make it Spider Inspired like, say, Metal Gear Excelsus, then you've got a better shot. In fact, I would take it a step even further and remove the Reverse Bending Joint from the Excelsus Legs and give it the same legs as the actual bot linked above. 2 Joints, counting the Joint at the Body.

This actually gives you a pretty solid Engineering Framework which removes the need for Complex Computers as much as possible. If you are willing to limit the number of legs that are moving at a single time, then while this results in a loss of mobility, now the Beast is relatively Self-Balancing, due to always having multiple supports surrounding its center of mass. It could probably even survive losing one, maybe 2 legs, but only if the legs were on opposite sides. Lose 2 legs from the same side and it might stay standing for a little while, but eventually the weight would almost assuredly bring it down and it would no longer be able to walk effectively.

The real question is whether such a thing could be powered enough to move under its own power and the answer to that is probably No.

Even if it could, it's legs would still be vulnerable, and I doubt it would be terribly useful in Combat except as perhaps a Spider Version of Railway Artillery. It's greatest use would be the fact that it can travel, to some degree, regardless of Terrain provided the Pilot(s) know what they are doing, making it a really good Mobile Command and Supply Base.
 
Top