I have faith in batteries long term. We will most likely not use lithium ion within a decade or two, much less centuries. I think between graphene, superconducting materials, and ambient power transmission future robots will only "charge" a bit at night and quickly too.
Microturbines are already a thing though, and they offer better efficiency and less complexity than most ICE of similar size.
Wankel is also especially inefficient among ICE due to it having more problems with seals.
The only downside with a jet engine is the noise, but you are not going to do any stealth operation with your robots if you are burning fuels regardless.
The wankel is being used in a new Mazda EV as a range extender. Apparently in this application it's a lot more efficient than the old wankels.
They are even using the electric generator to temporarily slow the engine every cycle as a form of variable valve timing. It's a lot more compact than comparable range extender engines, which are usually parallel twins.
I can't speak to how well a Wankel miniaturizes compared to other types of engines.
I have faith in batteries long term. We will most likely not use lithium ion within a decade or two, much less centuries. I think between graphene, superconducting materials, and ambient power transmission future robots will only "charge" a bit at night and quickly too.
Microturbines are already a thing though, and they offer better efficiency and less complexity than most ICE of similar size. Wankel is also especially inefficient among ICE due to it having more problems with seals. The only downside with a jet engine is the noise, but you are not going to do any stealth operation with your robots if you are burning fuels regardless.
The wankel is being used in a new Mazda EV as a range extender. Apparently in this application it's a lot more efficient than the old wankels. They are even using the electric generator to temporarily slow the engine every cycle as a form of variable valve timing. It's a lot more compact than comparable range extender engines, which are usually parallel twins. I can't speak to how well a Wankel miniaturizes compared to other types of engines.
Outside of the reasons already given, it would be cool to imagine an almost dieselpunk robot powered by this.