Note: tends to sway more towards the hard and pessimistic side of sci fi than... pretty much anyone in the history of ever.

[quote=@pugbutter]
Good stuff! So how are the navy's tests on bipedal battle-mechas going?
[/quote]

Surprisingly well, actually.

Although power-cycle of them is still limited to somewhat less than a typical 8 hour work-day, and aren't exactly the best for operations behind enemy lines unless you're willing to scale it down until it no longer becomes a significant hinderance to the warfighter in an unpowered state of operation.
-That or [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuratas]find someone willing to scale it up until an internal combustion engine can power it.[/url]

So yeah... 4 meter tall, 4.5 ton gasoline-powerd mechas are a thing IRL.

Ones attached to umbilicals are already starting to see use in re-arming aircraft on carriers or working in munitions-plants such as the one in Iowa. Hal 5 was already employed in the Fukishima meltdown cleanup operations [url=https://asienspiegel.ch/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/cyborg1.jpg]with considerable success[/url]*.
-Hal 5 is produced by Cyberdyne systems, and US DoD is pursuing interest in this design.

Ten years ago, this was all a different story of very optimistic thinking, considering the many, MANY failures and setbacks encountered getting to this point of technology. But keep in mind, VOTOMS actually got its idea direct from the headlines of scientific advances happening in the 1960s.

This RP is set [i]a good 20 years in the past[/i], with [s]a slight[/s] [i]extensive[/i] alt-history going-on.

*The primary goal of HAL 5, was to allow workers to wear the pre-requisite 100 kg of radiation-shielding to work in ground-zero.