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Description
Front elevation of the Armored Personnel Unit (APU) from the Matrix trilogy

This looked so cool back in 2003, but after 20 years of working on industrial equipment, this design looks horribly impractical. In fact it is incredibly dangerous to the operator:

1) This armored unit does not have any armor: everything from the pilot, to the controls, to the hydraulic lines and the wiring is very much exposed. This is a stripped down frame with no protection whatsoever, unless you count the roll bars above the pilot which still function mostly as grips.

2) The dual weapon platforms are hanging from what looks like three points of articulation nowhere near the center of gravity. This thing is top heavy and on top of that, every round fired creates a huge moment of action around the axis.

3) The ammunition belts are dispensed from the back, around the legs, and hang perpendicular to the feed tray. This would create jamming and misfires within the first few shots.

4) The automatic cannons resemble very large M60 machine guns, except both sides of the feed tray have what look like fixed hangers. This would indicate that the belt fed ammunition could be loaded from either hanger, which in turn could be an attachment point for the boxes of ammunition. However, this feature is tragically ignored.

5) The boxes of ammunition hold a woefully low volume of rounds (192, 6 folds x 16 rounds), despite having two onboard. Which means that even with one round spent on each invading sentinel entering Zion (250,000 mentioned in Matrix Reloaded), the defending APUs would need 1,300 boxes of ammunition. This would still not be enough ammunition since the movies show the APU pilots emptying volleys of rounds per sentinel.

6) The double hydraulic systems (not to mention the batteries) for this unit would require far more space than what appears on the back. There is a hydraulic solenoid rack and reservoir in the rear of the thorax (body?) for the eight brachial lines going to each arm. Another hydraulic system sits under the swivel of the pelvic turret (hips?) for the five femoral lines going to each leg. A failure in any of these lines would rapidly lose pressure, deplete the reservoir, and collapse the unit.

7) The legs are half the length of the arms. This serves no practical purpose except maybe reducing the already hazardous center of gravity. Any movement results in a waddling and disjointed forward motion. Each step results in transferring the weight of the central frame, both arms, both cannons, both ammo boxes, both hydraulic systems, batteries, and the lone pilot, onto four small suspension digits with shock absorbers. The gait of the unit would be lumbering at best if not a suicidal stumble.

Cinematically it's a wonderful vehicle to amplify the role of the pilot... in practical terms it's a death trap to the pilot and not much of an obstacle for hovering robot squids.

Description
Front elevation of the Armored Personnel Unit (APU) from the Matrix trilogy

This looked so cool back in 2003, but after 20 years of working on industrial equipment, this design looks horribly impractical. In fact it is incredibly dangerous to the operator:

1) This armored unit does not have any armor: everything from the pilot, to the controls, to the hydraulic lines and the wiring is very much exposed. This is a stripped down frame with no protection whatsoever, unless you count the roll bars above the pilot which still function mostly as grips.

2) The dual weapon platforms are hanging from what looks like three points of articulation nowhere near the center of gravity. This thing is top heavy and on top of that, every round fired creates a huge moment of action around the axis.

3) The ammunition belts are dispensed from the back, around the legs, and hang perpendicular to the feed tray. This would create jamming and misfires within the first few shots.

4) The automatic cannons resemble very large M60 machine guns, except both sides of the feed tray have what look like fixed hangers. This would indicate that the belt fed ammunition could be loaded from either hanger, which in turn could be an attachment point for the boxes of ammunition. However, this feature is tragically ignored.

5) The boxes of ammunition hold a woefully low volume of rounds (192, 6 folds x 16 rounds), despite having two onboard. Which means that even with one round spent on each invading sentinel entering Zion (250,000 mentioned in Matrix Reloaded), the defending APUs would need 1,300 boxes of ammunition. This would still not be enough ammunition since the movies show the APU pilots emptying volleys of rounds per sentinel.

6) The double hydraulic systems (not to mention the batteries) for this unit would require far more space than what appears on the back. There is a hydraulic solenoid rack and reservoir in the rear of the thorax (body?) for the eight brachial lines going to each arm. Another hydraulic system sits under the swivel of the pelvic turret (hips?) for the five femoral lines going to each leg. A failure in any of these lines would rapidly lose pressure, deplete the reservoir, and collapse the unit.

7) The legs are half the length of the arms. This serves no practical purpose except maybe reducing the already hazardous center of gravity. Any movement results in a waddling and disjointed forward motion. Each step results in transferring the weight of the central frame, both arms, both cannons, both ammo boxes, both hydraulic systems, batteries, and the lone pilot, onto four small suspension digits with shock absorbers. The gait of the unit would be lumbering at best if not a suicidal stumble.

Cinematically it's a wonderful vehicle to amplify the role of the pilot... in practical terms it's a death trap to the pilot and not much of an obstacle for hovering robot squids.