Everytime I am watching Aliens, I wonder how come the technology depicted is not real today.
I mean, look at the weapons, the ships, techno-devices like Power Loader and so... we have the technology but it is not on the market.
So men, what's you opinion ?

The weapon technology is there, sort of. Caseless rounds do exist, and obviously so do grenade launchers.
Smartgun tech could concievably be put into production, but I think the emphasis is more on putting the responsibility for aiming and firing firmly onto the soldier, at least in ground combat.

The ships - Well, we've got harrier jump jets. It's just more cost effective to use helicopter technology for heavy transport, hence the Chinook.

And there's no real need for orbital insertion when you've only got one planet to fight on.

Power loaders - again, they could possibly be made now, and indeed prototypes do exist.
But for the moment, it's more efficient to simply use wheels to move loaders around.


So I guess it all comes down to the mighty dollah.

_________________
MSgt, UKCM 42nd Reg., 1st Batt. : Hadrian's Wall. UKCM

Wasteland Workshop
Props, cosplay pieces, upcycled ornamentation, and miscellanea;
For the discerning survivor of the apocalypse.
Steve Fletcher : Maker, Scavenger, and Junksmith.
linktr.ee/wastelandworkshop

Powerloader - Is there any real situation (other than climatic battles with Alien Queens) where this machine would be more effective than a wheeled machine (eg a conventional or all-terrain forklift with specialist attachments)? A ‘loader wouldn't be able to climb anything other than shallow steps and would have too much foot pressure to work on soft/unstable surfaces. Additionally, the Powerloaders in the film move much slower than any forklift.

That's before you think about how you'd actually design the machine. Since it's not inherently stable, the ballast would have to be many times heavier than the maximum weight that the machine could lift. The ballast would also need to be dynamic and moved in someway to make sure that the centre of gravity stayed above the tiny feet.

Since this dynamic ballast has to be moved, it would have to be smaller than the enclosure that it moves in. The Powerloader isn't much of a hunchback, so I can only conclude that it could lift only a small weight (~200kg) unless the ballast is made from some incredibly dense space-age material.

Video Phones - Been there, done that, put one in my pocket. The picture quality of the videophones and the helmet cameras already looks ridiculously poor. Digital video and exotic modulations means that current technology could make helmet cams of excellent quality and total robustness up to their rated maximum range (Spread Spectrum or Ultrawideband etc)

PDTs - Cisco Systems and others make incredible tags that use special corporate wi-fi installations to track equipment and people on large premises like hospitals. Some include biometric transmission and even 2-way voice. The most amazing thing is the size (badge size) and amazing battery life (months).

Remote control dropship - we have fly-by-wire and experimental remote fighter planes. Not much of a leap ...

FTL - Well, most physicists say it's impossible. I like to think they are wrong!

As for the Aliens themselves, I believe that it's perfectly possible that somewhere in the near-infinite Universe, there must be a creature very similar.

Smartguns/sentry technology do technically exist. I saw a video where they had created a sentry gun that would track and fire at anything that crossed it's path that didn't have a transmitter attached to it.

Helmet cams are already being used, more specifically being used by the americans with their future warrior program. The soldier can see through a camera mounted to his rifle and his squadmates can also see what he see's simply by switching to his camera.

_________________

James Cameron himself said that he can't really see much use for powerloaders, except perhaps in a zero-gravity environment.

_________________
Mike

"We're not heroes - we're from Finchley"

Reminds me of 'Doom'.

_________________
Private B. Lipnick
A07/TQ1.0.02161E1

~funny name, serious attitude~

powerloader:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFXEFPco8l8

sentry gun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5YftEAbmMQ

_________________
Jon

'Do not go where the path may lead: go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.'

Well I see it as this for the Powerloader......if we had starships that needed heavy objects moved around.....it would be perfect.
On a Starship you have flat surfaces, less room to manuvere and of course a limited supply of fuel. T'would be perfect.

_________________

Note that this isn't equivalent to the Powerloader depicted in the film. This suit doesn't allow the wearer to manipulate considerably more weight than they would be able to otherwise, it simply makes it faster and easier. It couldn't allow huge weights or large loads to be lifted without a counter-balance. The largest weights the guy lifts is directly above his head: there is no way that this device could lift any considerable weight away from it's natural centre of gravity.



Every one of these factors would favour a small wheeled device compared with a powerloader...

Yeah the upright lift truck (it isn't really a forklift) at my work weighs 7000lbs!





The battery it runs on weighs 2000lbs!

The maximum lift weight is roughly 3000lbs (and lessens the higher you lift/extend the object being lifted).

So I would imagine the Powerloader having to weigh just as much more or less. Which is unlike the powered exoskeleton in the video- that is more like the Power Suits of SST (the novel not the film ).

Unless the Powerloader could climb stairs or cross an uneven terrain (something a forklift obviously can't do)- there is no advantage to having one. It just looks cool.



He was obviously being facetious as you wouldn't need a lifting device in a zero G enviroment; a baby could lift a car.

Can we put the Powerloader arguement to rest now?

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Nope, sorry.

The truck at your work has a huge area between it's wheels and the load never extends more than a metre or so away from it's centre of mass. Hence it needs to weigh *ONLY* 7000lbs to lift 3000lbs.

A Powerloader like in the film can hold it's load 2 metres or more away (at "arms length"). This would need double the ballast. However, any ballast that is on the back of the loader is smaller and closer to the centre of mass than on the forklift. You could guess that this would need the ballast to double again. (Closer to the point of balance means that more weight is needed to provide the moment to stop it falling over ...)

Already we have a machine that weighs 28,000 lbs that can lift 3000 lbs. It's approaching the point where the machine would need to be solid steel. As it is, a conventional forklift is mostly steel ...

That's before we consider that a good amount of that mass would need to be computer-controlled to allow the machine to balance on small feet carrying no load or maximum load.

What I'm trying to say is: Imagine if a forklift had it's wheels in a rectangle the same size as the footprint of the Powerloader feet. Also that it was as tall as a Powerloader. It would be unable to lift any considerable weight without falling over

Unless the feet were magnitised to the deck - which also might be quite handy in zero G.

As for a baby lifting a car? A 1000kg load still has 1000kg of mass even in zero G which would require a significant force to get moving and to stop again (remember F=MA from high school science) - think about how hard it is to stop a car rolling on flat ground at, say, 1 foot per second.

_________________
Jon

'Do not go where the path may lead: go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.'

Great point. Of course, that explains why a Powerloader hasn't been made currently too ...

Of course, it would take a huge amount of power to keep it upright by magnetism, but if you're on a ship with FTL then you're not exactly short of power ...

The rifles in the movie didn't use optics (or even have sights for that matter). We use electronic sights like Aimpoints and Eotechs almost exclusively today except on garrison units here in country. Other people are issued ACOGs. Near as I can tell almost nobody goes into battle for the U.S. without an optic of some sort these days.