Why FALLOUT's Society is DOOMED!

FALLOUT is a great game franchise, but some of the aspects we're supposed to assume about this post-apocalyptic society don't quite add up. It's 200 years after the Great War, and there are still robots and power armor suits. Wouldn't this high-tech stuff help give a boost for rebuilding society? It turns out that a return to civilization may not be physically or mentally possible in the aftermath of a Nuclear Fallout...Or is it?