AT-ATs Coming to a Forest Near You

Audent writes "Not strictly speaking anything any of us should classify as work related, or even open source, but holy shitbags! I want one of these. Plustech, a subsidiary of tractor maker John Deere, has built a six-legged walking logging machine that just has to be the prototype for an AT-AT walker. Imagine parking this puppy at the mall!"

Comments

an improvement

[faeryman]

the harvester advances forward and backward, sideways and diagonally. It can also turn in place and step over obstacles

Good. Maybe then those pesky forest rebels will have a harder time wrapping thier grappling hooks around me when I'm out logging.

AT-AT dead ahead!

[TheWickedKingJeremy]

Trooper: Sir, small green AT-ATs approaching!

Rebel Officer: Damn! Are you sure?

Trooper: Yes, can't you hear it? ... Its that loud "lawn-mower" sound... Kind of like a trash-compacter...

Rebel Officer: Oh yes... Whats the ETA?

Trooper: Well, given their current rate of speed, I would say 2... no make that 3 weeks.

Rebel Officer: Good work Trooper - We had best begin to pack up the base and move out by no later than... noon tomorrow.

Trooper: Roger roger.

Re:AT-AT dead ahead!

[daeley]

They're loud and slow to give the trees a chance to get out of the way. Rather sporting, don't you think? ;)

military version

[lingqi]

would probabbly look a lot like the "tank" in [Ghost in the Shell]. which would make sense, IMO, because the manuverability would be *so* superior to track-driven tanks.

well, with a couple decades of engineering work to make it move faster and more adaptable, anyway.

at the mean time, i want to see a consumer version for *real* off-roading. and the crane thing can be used to grab hot women out of their convertables while dozing around downtown LA.

needs claws

[mr_burns]

HAIL ANTS!!!!

This thing needs pneumatic claws so it can grip the sides of mountains and buildings. Walking a cliff face or wall vertically or horizontally would be a requirement for any kind of urban deployment of this technology

Also, it should look more like an actual giant armored space ant.

turret with high powered water/foam/fire cannon would be a nice option. Perhaps with harpoon/grappling hook gun with high test line on gear reduced winch. That way it would be able to swing from building to building and fight fires, mothra or those angels from evangelion.

Whew!

[eyepeepackets]

I'm so glad I saw this article here before I ran into one while hiking and found myself wishing I had brought a change of underwear. Not only that, but I'd probably never, ever again eat those funny mushrooms.

Thanks Slashdot!