Exo-skeletons becoming a reality

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-02-12 10:39am

And power armor it would seem, the US Army are developing a sort of exo-skeleton that will run each joint with a miniature combustion engine to solve the energy problem, there's also talk of it being armored and such for protection.

In other words, power armor.

A very early test model is also in existence, but it's a civilan one thats going to be used by nurses in Japan or something so they can lift heavy things.

I have no online article for this as I read it in a swedish science magazine called "Illustrated Science" in english.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2003-02-12 10:41am

i want one.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-02-12 10:42am

The ability to design such a rig has existed for a long time. The usefulness of it in battle, however, is questionable.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-02-12 10:46am

Yes, that is the aspect that is being investigated by the army, it's long been a problem to get enough energy, electricty simply requires too much juice to make a mobile platform, now an internal combustion engine on the other hand they can make the size of a soda can, more or less.

Problems would be things like stealth and carrying volatile fuel on you(hence where the power-armor aspect comes in).

Ofcourse there are also civilian uses for this technology which is also being investigated.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-02-12 10:48am

Maybe something like this?

DocHorror · Post by **DocHorror** » 2003-02-12 11:45am

Ah you gotta love Terminator armour...

Have you seen the new Grey Knight termies? They look awesome...

BlkbrryTheGreat · Post by **BlkbrryTheGreat** » 2003-02-12 12:29pm

Exo-Skeletons have been a reality in insects for millions of years, just look at a cockroach to see an example.

In terms of Exo-"Skeletons" for humans..... We have pleanty of equipment that works just fine for heavy lifting, I see you reason to replace the efficiency of wheeled heavy lifting with inefficient walking/heavy lifting.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-02-12 12:51pm

His Divine Shadow wrote:Maybe something like this?
http://www.nimbacreations.com/Library/T ... %20big.jpg

More like this.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-02-12 01:13pm

Slartibartfast wrote:
His Divine Shadow wrote:Maybe something like this?
http://www.nimbacreations.com/Library/T ... %20big.jpg
More like this.

Heh, gooo Uber Hawking.

But yeah, power armour has been around a while, it just isn't practical just yet, we have a way to go before we have SST, Terminator armour or stuff like the MADOX-01.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-02-12 01:30pm

Yes but atleast civilian types are beginning to look feasible now, maybe wthin a few years.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-02-12 02:59pm

I've never heard of a US Army project, which was actually developing powered armor. Right now all they want is a frame which will allow for carrying greater loads, and that can absorb shock so personal using them can jump from helicopters, removing the need to fast rope into many tight positions. All armor would be personal stuff worn by the user.

Tom_Aurum · Post by **Tom_Aurum** » 2003-02-12 03:18pm

A light healer matrix is more of a reality... something the military has been considering for a long while, clothing impregnated with medicines, such as antiseptic, analgesic, et cetera, that come out when someone gets wounded. But anyways. Yadda.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-02-12 04:12pm

If I remember correctly, what the US military was trying to design before was an exoskeleton device for the legs and lower torso that would allow the user to run at 30-40 mph with mimimum physical exertion.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-02-12 04:17pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:I've never heard of a US Army project, which was actually developing powered armor. Right now all they want is a frame which will allow for carrying greater loads, and that can absorb shock so personal using them can jump from helicopters, removing the need to fast rope into many tight positions. All armor would be personal stuff worn by the user.

Thats current yes, the breakthrough, is the ability to use very effective and small combustion engines for the joints, however, the next stage, would involved making it silent, and to armor it.

Though I've not heard anything of the jump bussiness...

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-02-12 04:26pm

His Divine Shadow wrote:
Sea Skimmer wrote:I've never heard of a US Army project, which was actually developing powered armor. Right now all they want is a frame which will allow for carrying greater loads, and that can absorb shock so personal using them can jump from helicopters, removing the need to fast rope into many tight positions. All armor would be personal stuff worn by the user.
Thats current yes, the breakthrough, is the ability to use very effective and small combustion engines for the joints, however, the next stage, would involved making it silent, and to armor it.

Though I've not heard anything of the jump bussiness...

You want artificial muscle fibre and hydrogen fuel cells for it to be really worth it.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-02-12 04:52pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:You want artificial muscle fibre and hydrogen fuel cells for it to be really worth it.

Yeah, we got artificial muscle fibres tho, 100 times stronger than human muscle fibres, but many many times thicker.

Ofcourse then we're back to needing electricity, and that leads to Hydrogen Fuel cells yes.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-02-12 05:14pm

Power armor of choice:

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-02-12 05:59pm

His Divine Shadow wrote:
Admiral Valdemar wrote:You want artificial muscle fibre and hydrogen fuel cells for it to be really worth it.
Yeah, we got artificial muscle fibres tho, 100 times stronger than human muscle fibres, but many many times thicker.

Ofcourse then we're back to needing electricity, and that leads to Hydrogen Fuel cells yes.

Buckytubes then, when they can be synthesized quickly enough. Servos and motors are generally a bad idea, hydraulics or pneumatics are better due to less complexity.

Captain Cyran · Post by **Captain Cyran** » 2003-02-12 06:00pm

Can't wait for something like Starship Troopers style powered armor to come in. I would love to see that stuff in action.

jaeger115 · Post by **jaeger115** » 2003-02-12 06:36pm

If I remember correctly, what the US military was trying to design before was an exoskeleton device for the legs and lower torso that would allow the user to run at 30-40 mph with mimimum physical exertion.

Are you sure? The muscles would be tired from rapid contracting and expansion. After they get out of the exoskeleton, it'll be a while before you can stand.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-02-12 06:38pm

The US military wants exoskells that can lift hundreds of pounds, not exoskells that make you into Flash.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-02-12 07:08pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Buckytubes then, when they can be synthesized quickly enough. Servos and motors are generally a bad idea, hydraulics or pneumatics are better due to less complexity.

I'm not sure how the power from the combustion motor will be used, but from the looks of it, it might be in a hydraulic or pneumatic fashion.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-02-12 07:18pm

yeah thats brilliant, walk around with a big ICE strapped to your back. With luck it'll be able to lift its own weight in a decent amount of time.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-02-12 07:25pm

kojikun wrote:yeah thats brilliant, walk around with a big ICE strapped to your back. With luck it'll be able to lift its own weight in a decent amount of time.

Uhm, read the thread, then come back.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-02-12 09:31pm

Captain_Cyran wrote:Can't wait for something like Starship Troopers style powered armor to come in. I would love to see that stuff in action.

I'd love to watch THEL pluck entire platoons from the sky in a single bounce while a second firing unit covers the first.