The Energon Pub

This is something more for those who appreciate the technical aspects of the Transformers, particularly the mechanics of transformation.


Though it is a cartoon I notice these is some logic in the way they transform(not the Transformers movie thought that is way to technical and very alien)and it must be quite difficult for the animators to follow draw where an arm is to fold and tuck, how a leg turns into a rocket booster and such


Is it possible for a real world car to transform into a robot and back again?
and can these rules be applied to every day normal vehicles- though they wouldn't be normal anymore

Any mechanical engineers here ever thought about it, it is possible?

closes things I've seen that can change shape slightly are the old Tomcat fighter planes with their scissor wings on aircraft carriers.



I don't even think it's practial really, but very curious in the whole mechanics of it all.

I think that, in the case of an electric vehicle, it can probably be made into a Transformer. I don't think an internal combustion system would do well...if at all.

Although it would probably be quite awhile before we see anything to mirror science fiction.

Well, I think the transformation aspect can be applied to something. I mean transformers in most respects design wise mean getting more out of your machine than what's usually expected. I don't think it would work well now for it to be vehicle to robot tyoe, because we're only starting to see robots that can kind of run now, but all those robots have a constant physical mass in fixed locations. Transformers would have to be able to move at high speeds in one mode, and than change to another, all while its mass is shifting about. I think they would need a spare supercomputer just to handle all of that.

However, the idea of a probe or piece of construction equipment being able to rotate and store tools as needed out in the field would tremendously cut down on time and money. Sort like a complex swiss army knife that has a MRI machine, an x-ray machine and thermal vision all in one. In medicine there's this amazing machine called the Da Vinci, which allows you to preform any sort of operation you need, on the go, with minimal scaring to the patient, and it's all down with a somewhat complex game controller and 3-d glasses. Huge price tag though.

So right now we're seeing some basic concepts out in the world, but who knows what's actually in the labs right now.

I find it fascinating that today we have devices with multifuntion abilities and what was once dedicated devices are diverging.

case in point from
Office Faxes and Printers that are now Multifunction devices that does both abilites and sometimes that overall benefits outweigh the dedicated devices themselves- office space, costs, flexibility and usefullness.
Phones, PDAs and MP3 players that are now Smart phones.
I think Smart Phones market growth versus the shrinking demand for traditional phones is an indicator of the usefullness of multifunctional machines.

I think the potential is there to go beyond just multifunctional abilities, and into multifunctional modes.
There was a car that could 'transform' into a boat on the fly once it drove into a bed of water; however the whole car/boat design was quite rudimentary and quite hybrid that little was needed to change in order to form from car mode into boat and back again.


It may just be the whole practicality or good enough reason for a machine to have multimode/multiform abilites that such technology hasn't taken off- or logistically it maybe too dificult.

Still it maybe very popular if you have a car that can double as a boat so you can go fishing anytime would be quite impressive.

I've had this question cross my mind many times. It is my opinion that for something like transformers to become reality, the technology for vehicles would have to be radically different. I don't see an actual engine block being able to cause the car to move at such speeds and then suddenly transform into some robot-mode component. Theres a lot of moving parts for the engine to provide propulsion for the vehicle, and there would have to be even more moving parts to continue supplying that propulsion AND be fully functioning pieces for what component those parts are a part of in the robot mode. Everything from cars to planes, radios to cameras, weapons and satellites, in my opinion, would have to be re-invented to accomodate transformation while maintaining practical use for all modes.

Introducing MTRAN:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oSavAHf ... re=related

A self re-configuring robot. Although it is quite rudimentary, it's still very cool, and baby steps in the transformers direction!

THAT WAS COOL!!!!!

Now of the technology involved more parts, and faster motors and had some multicore CPUs installed it could be more capable of more complex transformations and movements.

In the 1950-60's a German manufacturer made a amphibious car. I forgot what it's called but it I know it wasn't very successful. It's a collectors item now that sells for a pretty penny.

Also in the 50's there was this guy, last name was Benson I think, that made a small car(which was really a dune buggy) that had a push-propeller engine and had collapseable rotors mounted perpendicular to the push prop.
The idea was, that if you got stuck in a traffic jam or was in some other situation where you couldn't drive away. You could pull out the rotors and fly.

Today it would be classified as a Ultra-light aircraft. But Back then this guy was trying to make them street legal and set up a full scale production run.
But the U.S. Gov. wouldn't let him. Saying the craft were too small, slow, and unsafe for americas highways and basically said that the average american was too stupid to be trusted with a flying vehicle...

Catalyst Prime wrote:Today it would be classified as a Ultra-light aircraft. But Back then this guy was trying to make them street legal and set up a full scale production run.
But the U.S. Gov. wouldn't let him. Saying the craft were too small, slow, and unsafe for americas highways and basically said that the average american was too stupid to be trusted with a flying vehicle...

Well, that's because they are. I mean it was a cool idea but imagine the sheer number of people crashing into homes because they didn't quite read the instruction properly. You can get a sporting pilots license now if you train for it. Single propellor and you can't fly in residential areas.

Admiral Duane wrote:THAT WAS COOL!!!!!

Now of the technology involved more parts, and faster motors and had some multicore CPUs installed it could be more capable of more complex transformations and movements.

Not only was it cool, but I want somes.


Something I've been thinking on for some time now is converting a U-haul truck into a functional, pilot-able transformer. The standard combustion engine would be used as an electric generator. the cab itself would not be overly affected. Hydraulics would also be needed. while my skills are not in this area, dreaming is always fun. I may post crude sketches at some later point.

In my opinion it is theoretically possible for a vehicle to transform into a robot. The parts need to be specially engineered to take the stress load, and specialized motors would need to be constructed. I would imagine that an electric power cell would be required, located near each separate motor, as a standard centralized combustion engine would prove impossible to use.

In a way the technology needed to create a real Transformer would be similar to that of the Binaltech series.