Sci-Fi Idea

[Robert Treder]

Hey, I don't hang around this forum much, but since part of its description is "swap story writing ideas," I thought this would be a good place to air my idea.
Let me preface this: I just came up with this idea for a piece of sci-fi tech, and it doesn't make much sense, but it would be pretty cool in an anime sort of way. This is just for general sci-fi, not really Star Wars or Star Trek. In fact, it's decidedly more low-tech than either of those universes. Well, here it goes.

This device would be a personal shield. It fits over the wearer in an exoskeletal manner. I imagine it as being quite sparse and skeletal, though it could be incorporated into an armored suit. The suit emits a translucent force field around the user, and this force field catches projectiles, physical and otherwise. When a bullet, for instance, is caught by the shield, it would have effects similar to that of the bullets caught by Pierrot le Fou's shield in Cowboy Bebop.
The point of the exoskeleton is that it redirects the energy of the hits into the ground. This could provide for rather dramatic scenes where a character is hit by a bunch of stuff and the floor around him cracks. Users could also have capacitors or batteries or whatever and store a portion of the energy, and then either use it for their weapons or, for extra anime flavor, charge up for mega punches or some shit.
Now, since this is a device for stories, it has to have drawbacks (we don't want to just wank all over the place, now do we?). Obviously, a user would be considerably slower and less maneuverable than an unshielded human. Also, the results of the shield being hit while the user isn't grounded could be painful.
EDIT: An important point is that this isn't an uber invincible shield. I think part of the drama is that it is indeed defeatable, with enough power. Think of it like kevlar on steroids. A user could take a fair deal of small arms fire, but too much, or anything with power grenade-scale or larger will take the user out.
And, to make everything look cooler, you could say that the user needs to have their skin covered and wear a breath mask/oxygen tank (remember how cool that McQuarrie concept sketch of Luke and Vader fighting with masks on is?). This would also allow for the plot device of it only being able to be used for a limited amount of time, due to dwindling oxygen or power.

Maybe I'm just crazy, but this seems pretty cool to me. But I thought I'd ask you guys, just to find out if I am indeed insane.

[Rhoades]

This idea is no more insane than lightsabers or phasers

It's well thought out from both a technological aspect as well as a story-device. Also, in a way it reminds me a bit like the "uber borg personal KE shields" (that some 'claim' exsist), however unlike Trek technology what you presented makes sense in working applications.

[Sonnenburg]

When it comes to technology, there are an almost limitless number of options when crafting the story. It can be in the background or be the center of attention. Your setting and style are very flexible.

Put the shield in the present. One scientist has it. Is it stolen by someone doing evil? Is it used to fight crime? Further an agenda? Or does it get used on a slightly larger scale. What if the US attacked Iraq, but Saddam had equipped his troops with it? What if both sides have it, so you in essence have neither side being able to harm the other? What if some small group had it and tried to overthrow a major world power?

Put the shield in the future. What if they invaded another planet with a different kind of technology? What if the use of so many suits over time wound up causing damage to the Earth's tectonic plates? What if this suit came to exist in a universe where battles were usually fault with far larger and clumsier armor, meaning these had the speed advantage?

And any one of these is only beginning to scratch the surface. What of the plot? Who would be the protagonists and antagonists? Take the ideas and run with them.

[The Dark]

I may steal this idea, if you don't mind, Rob. If you don't want me to use it, though, just let me know either on the thread or in PM.

[Eleas]

Maybe I'm just crazy, but this seems pretty cool to me. But I thought I'd ask you guys, just to find out if I am indeed insane.

Interesting idea. A bit like the premise for Poul Anderson's Shield, but less unscientific (yes, really). But, like Chuck said, it may be most useful as a tool to create the story.