If a robot then I think it would have a robot body half way between a standard robot body and a heavy duty robot body, STA and weight wise. 

Good idea. I'm of a mind to stat up both a vehcile and a robot.

 

True. A robot would make more sense.

But, if it was meant to transport someone, I'd say it would have to be a Dralasite.

Earlier design reminds me of the plot of Han Solo at Star's End- lost cache of warbots

I'm basing my comments on the Kugelpanzer. I think the mono tank is the lesser of the two options.

 

Here it is!

Something like this?

Yep, that link for the mini is what I was referring to. It's the Kugelpanzer link that is dead.

Interesting, the wikipedia page was much longer with more information in the past now its a brief/scant entry that basically tells you nothing.

RE: shopping cart wheel- I've got nothing so I stay shut.

what I believe is that this is a design that was worked on post WW1 and that what we are seeing is a prototype, a proof of concept. There were other similar designs developed elsewhere in the world in the same period but most of those did not reach prototype stage. Germany excelled at tank technology in the WW2 time period and none of it looked like this so its safe to say that German engineers gave this a hard look and said, "Nah"

The oddity is that it ended up in Manchuria in Japanese hands.

There was one suggestion that since its not well made that is a hoax. Who in 1940 Manchuria would say lets freak the Russians out with a fake tank that looks straight out of sci fi and did they really have the industry available in Manchuria to craft this? So if it was captured by the Soviets in the 40s and stored away at a tank museum then it has to be a real thing.

Could it be that a Russian ran a hoax? possible. but why? and wouldn't a Russian hoax glorify mother russia and the soviets? Its true that there are scant records on this so its possible it could be a hoax.

I'm not in a possition to prove or disprove it and would like to see more evidence one way or the other on whether this is a hoax before making up my mind.

Barring evidence that forces me to write it off as a hoax though my speculation is that it was a prototype built by Germany in a time period when many people around the world were speculating on mono wheel style vehciles and those effecient German engineers actually took it further than anyone else ever did. Its a one off and probably billed as a "wonder weapon" but Germany never pursued it.

As the war progressed and its Ally, Japan, pressed for help and potentially the transfer of wonder weapons (imagine Japan with the V2) but Germany having problems of its own this prototype could have been sent as a placating measure of , "Well, here is a wonder weapon we worked on". I think this is the reason this oddity ended up in Japanese hands. Of course that is just speculation.

metalurgy and some photos form soviet archives of russian soldiers posing with their captured tank would go a long way to removing doubt on this but so far proper testing hasn't been allowed and the other doesn't seemed to have happened.

If only the History Channel would stop snorting the Ancient Alien crack and fund a real investigation on this as a quest by a scientist/ researcher- those type of quest for the truth shows do seem to be popular on the reality TV circut.

If you've ever tried to post something on Wikipedia, it gets pounced on by the self-righteous "editors" -- even if you've provided various footnotes -- and they tend to wipe it out. So it suprises me how anything stays up there or can be considered 100% factual... yes I use it for finding out more information on a subject, but I look for a lot more resources than that or blogs.

 

That's true.

Ok, so wikipedia sucks. Moving on. working with this $5 model I'm tempted to saw off the double guns and mount only one on those side turrets.

Big question here is what weapon system should I give this? The idea of providing a combat or hunter killer robot with 4 guns seems a bit like over kill to me. I can live with it only having two.

New Company in the Frontier:

Automatisierung (German for Automation) Or tinker with the German word till it sounds like something an English speaker can pronounce without tripping over his tongue but still alien sounding to an English speaker.

specializes in new robotics designs

Has a line of Kugelbots

Small, Medium and large spheroid robotics bodies. STA will be appropriate each of these bodies but their defining characteristic will be increased speed over existing robot chassis.

Small will appropriate for small annoying companion and service type robots levels 1-2 with maybe 50 STA: basically your BB8

Medium: 85 STA; not quite as large as the Standard Robot body limited to levels 1-5 type robots. combat robots common on this chassis.

Large slightly larger than a standard robot body but does not rival a hvy duty body. 125 STA not limits can be a level 1-6 robot. Popular size for a warbot or hunter killer robot.

Lead engineer can be a dralasite.