Chicken walker

An AT-ST from Star Wars, one of the most famous "chicken walkers."

A chicken walker is a fictional type of bipedal robot or mecha, distinguished by its rear-facing knee joint. This type of articulation resembles a bird's legs, hence the name. However, birds actually have forward facing knees; they are digitigrade, and what most call the "knee" is actually the ankle.

They are usually less able to handle extremely rugged terrain than "man walkers". They are often shown to be faster than other robots, capable of road runner like movements. The best example of this contrast in film is the fast pursuits of the ED-209 versus the steady walking pace of RoboCop in the RoboCop franchise. Also, in the Star Wars franchise, the chicken-walking AT-ST was used as a light scout vehicle rather than the elephantine AT-AT, which were lumbering quadrupeds.

Arguably, the first chicken walkers originated in Slavic fairy tales, as the "Hut on Chicken Legs" or "Избушка На Курьих Ножках", a literally walking house without any doors or windows. More often than not it is the place of residence of a witch (see Baba Yaga).

Notable examples

• AT-ST and AT-RT (Star Wars universe)
• Variable fighter, in GERWALK mode, Zentradi battle pods (The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, The Super Dimension Century Orguss, Genesis Climber Mospeada, The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross)
  • Jetfire in GERWALK mode (actually a version of Macross's VF-1 Valkyrie, licensed for the Transformers)
• GDI Juggernaut Artillery Walker (Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars)
• ED-209 (RoboCop)
• Sentinels and War Walkers (Warhammer 40,000)
• JMA-0530 Walking Dome "WaDom" (∀ Gundam)
• The Megadoomer (Invader Zim)
• SB-913V Side Basshar, in battle mode (Kamen Rider 555)
• Metal Gear (Metal Gear series)
• New New York Chicken Walker (Futurama Video Game)
• Goliath (StarCraft)
• Mechs dubbed "Walker" in the game Battlefield 2142
• Numerous BattleMechs (Battletech/Mechwarrior)
• LIght AFW's in the game Ring of Red
• MagiTek Armor (Final Fantasy VI)
• Various Wanzers (Front Mission series)
• The MMORPG World of Warcraft has a two-legged, mechanical mount called a Mechanostrider.