No Senior Mech Designer ever made it to their rank by being stupid. Despite her slow responses and her erratic behavior, when it came to mechs, Professor Velten was as razor sharp as any mech designer.
She immediately took note of the abundance of superfluous elements in his design proposal.
"Mr. Larkinson, of all the elements of a mech that you could have chosen to work on, you focused on the cockpit. Worse, besides switching the neural interface systems, most of these changes appear to be purely cosmetic! I can understand if you've made the cockpit sturdier or increased its ability to withstand a breach, but all you have done is rearrange its interior! What do you have to say for yourself?!"
Ves held up his hands. "It's not cosmetic, ma'am! Far from it! Every adjustment I have made is needed to increase the ergonomics of the cockpit!"