[OW WIP] Hard Sci-Fi Melee Weapons for Fighting Robots?

r/

I’m playing around with the concept of personal melee weapons that might be useful (or at least cool) in a world where humans are up against an AI robot uprising. I’m thinking of stuff in the same visual vein as lightsabers or energy blades, but with a harder sci-fi twist—less “space magic” and more “we could maybe make this work someday, at least in theory.”

One idea I keep circling is some kind of EMF-based weapon—maybe a sword/baton/mace that emits a localized electromagnetic pulse strong enough to fry circuits or scramble sensors. Not sure how practical that would be, but it’s a fun angle. I’ve also been thinking about things like plasma cutters reimagined as melee weapons, or mono-molecular blades with onboard charge systems to disrupt shielding.

Curious what directions others have taken or seen—what kind of personal weapons might make scientific-ish sense in a man vs. machine future? Or how I can make my EMF Mace idea work through hard science

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