Mecha

The 'Mech or Mecha (from Greek μῆχος mechos ) is in the field of science fiction is a general term for today still largely fictitious, piloted walking robots and robot-like machines that humanoid, for example, can insektoid or look avianoid. In the various fictions there are these machines in a variety of shapes and sizes - from almost superhuman (over two meters ) to over 20 meters tall.

Origin and History

From the ancient Greek root word mechos ( for means or opportunity ), the Greek word developed mechanés ( for tools, tool or war machine ) and the Latin machina ( for machine). From there developed, inter alia, the English mechanical, which eventually became the Japanese term for Mecha. The Mecha (pronounced Meka, Japaneseメカ) where it describes general mechanical objects of all kinds, from cars to machinery and firearms to computers. Only with the Rückentlehnung into English and proliferation into German, which was accompanied by the spread of Japanese pop culture in the West, was the limitation on the meaning shown here. The term mechanisms will, however, still used in contrast to Mech relatively rare in the German language area. Here, this term was known mainly by Japanese ( sci-fi mecha ) anime and manga.

The 'Mech is originally a non-licensed transfer from the mecha anime series Macross or its U.S. version Robotech back to the then newly developed BattleTech universe, which was introduced by the founders of the former game company FASA. Back then " copied " some authors and members of FASA and to some Mecha Mecha from the anime series Macross, these named by and let these mechs in addition to some Macross -inspired self- inventions occur in the BattleTech novels and games. The so copied mechs (such as the Marauder / Marauder, Warhammer / Warhammer; Sagittarius / Archer; Firehawk / Phonix Hawk; Locust / Locust; Hornet / Stinger, Wasp / Wasp; Crusader / Crusader or Rifleman / Rifleman ) may now however, no longer occur from copyright protection reasons in new games and novels. Therefore, the so-called in fan circles Unseen occur only in the Crescent Hawk game series as well as in the PC games Mechwarrior 1 and 2. The drawings of these mechs were replaced by the so-called reseen. This means that for the old Mechs new drawings and characters were created, the names and characteristics of the mechs were retained. The Unseen also appear in fan projects such as the unofficial Mechwarrior 4 - Mercenaries extensions of MekTek ( Mekpack version 2.1 and higher) and NBT (Hardcore). Later the term was used in other American robot comic series and then spread with the BattleTech series in Europe and Germany. The terms and Mech Mecha are used primarily in science fiction circles and fans of these fictional (Battle ) machines.

These machines are frequently depicted in Mecha anime as extremely mobile and often in close quarters. In addition, the mechanisms are there, free and in the civilian sector, such as the police or in the construction industry, used a lot. In the BattleTech universe, however, dominate the mechs used by the military - the so-called 'Mechs - largely.

Demarcation

There are - for the most part already real - small running and walking machines, which, however, due to their small size, no (human) can accommodate pilots and are therefore not included in the Mech or Mecha category. And although in some media, these little machines are also called Mecha, but these are in each special categories of androids and walking robots or robots in general.

Real Areas

The Walking Truck ( Cybernetic Walking Machine) is a four-legged walking robot prototype pilotierter and in 1966 commissioned by the U.S. Army at General Electric commissioned, developed by Ralph S. Mosher and delivered to the U.S. Army in August 1970. The Army wanted a truck vehicle for the infantry to carry heavy loads over extremely difficult terrain. The U.S. Army finally stopped the project because she used transport helicopters to transport heavy loads over difficult terrain. The prototype is now at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis. In 2005, the idea of ​​a (however unpilotierten ) " mule robot " for the U.S. Army's BigDog has been revived.

More developed machines of this type have been developed primarily for civilian use or for research purposes. For example, the continuous forest machine plus Jack (English Walking Forest Machine) of the former Finnish research and development company Plustech Oy - one of the first walking machines prototypes that in the years 1995-1999 ( until the takeover of the company Timberjack by John Deere ) has been constantly evolving.

Machines of this type are used primarily in the forest and forestry ( see also Holzvollernter ) and occasionally also in the construction industry (see walking excavator ). The strengths of these machines are in landforms, which are very sensitive to wheeled and tracked vehicles ( such as forests and nature reserves ). For these types of terrain, in addition to the first developed prototype, the first production models of this category in use, such as walking excavator, which could also be called a 'Mech or Mecha.