U.S Developing troop exoskeletons

sounds to me, like it will likely evolve into nanotechnology First the exoskeleton, then internal as well

"set out the broad goals of the programme which calls for technologies that can help troops:

carry heavier packs;
march faster over longer distances;
lift heavier objects and use larger weapons;
leap extraordinary heights and/or distances.
"

[Edited on 12-4-2003 by BeingWatchedByThem]

Couldnt u just electricuit them?

If the Army is working on these they won't be seen for decades. The Army is just wrapping up work on its "Land Warrior" system. Land Warrior wont be deployed for another year or so and it is far far less complicated than a full exo skeleton. All land warrior is realy is an updated backpack with: a computer that displays targeting information, and a gun mounted IR camera. A fully powered exoskelleton is 100 times more advanced than any infantry weapon system in development. It too us 10 years to intraduce a rather lame Land Warrior system, its going to take far far longer to develop any kind of exoskeleton.

Removed by request

[Edited on 12/5/2003 by Maverick]

I wonder if the US will ever sell this technology to other nations of the world, or wether it will be used exclusively.

This is pretty innovative of the military, but who or what will be the likely test subject of this new technology?

I imagine something like this would be deployed after development, much to the demise of the receiving end.

can i test drive one of them and i still go people who owe me money hehehehehehehaahahahahaah ooopss sorry got carried away

But the main problem with exoskeletons it their control. Today the best version is hedraulic one. But itis heavy and easy to damage. A small leak, and super strong limb becomes a extra weight for soldier, disabling his hand or leg. The best control will be cybertronics, but this technology isnt developed at this level yet. But benefits of this suit would be great. Even a light armor, will give infantry immunity to auto rifles , light MG's, frag grenades, explosion blasts and shrapnels. So, enemy will have to use AT weaponf to kill infantry. With increased strenght, all infantry would use heavy machineguns, 20mm canons, large caliber sniper
rifles and recilless guns, beause they will carry that and withstand recoil. Simply, infantry will have armor and weapons of light armored vehicles.

DARPA's description of Exoskeleton project in their solicitation to potential developers:

"The overall goal of this program is to develop devices and machines that will increase the speed, strength, and endurance of soldiers in combat environments. Projects will lead to self-powered, controllable, wearable exoskeletal devices and/or machines. " LINK


DARPA's Mechwarrior Concept...

What the exoskeleton program at DARPA plans to do is turn ordinary soldiers into super-troops who can leap tall objects and run at high speeds. This program is still in the early stages, so details of these wearable machines are still very vague. However, DARPA has set some expectations for these exoskeletal machines.

Here's what DARPA hopes exoskeletons to do for soldiers:

Increase strength - Soldiers will be able to carry more weapons and supplies. By increasing strength, soldiers will also be able to remove large obstacles from their path while marching. It will also enable them to wear heavier body armor and other ballistic protection. In the 1960s, General Electric and the U.S. military co-developed an exoskeleton, named Hardiman, that made lifting 250 pounds feel like lifting 10 pounds.

Increase speed - An average human walks 4 to 6 mph, but soldiers are often expected to carry up to 150 pounds of supplies in their backpacks. Even the best-conditioned troops cannot go very fast carrying that much weight on their backs. It's not certain how fast DARPA's exoskeleton will be able to move. An independently developed body amplifier, the SpringWalker, has been tested at speeds faster than 10 mph (16 km/h).

Leap great heights and distances - It's unclear just how far or high soldiers will be able to jump wearing mechanical suits, but officials would like the machine to give soldiers the ability to leap over obstacles that would ordinarily slow troops down.

Overall, soldiers will benefit from increased endurance when marching long distances over unpredictable terrain. With increased strength, they will also be able to repair heavy equipment that would otherwise be impossible to repair. Experts expect fewer casualties because of increased body armor.

Tech TV has a good article on exoskeletons; "Deploying Exoskeletons".
Apparently two companies have already come to the table and are developing this technology with DARPA, Boston Dynamics Teams with Sarcos Research Corporation on DARPA Exoskeleton Project.

ALso, as morphing and smart metals technology advances it will be interesting to see how this could play into exoskeletons and pliable armor skins.

I think it will be a good idea researching into to technology like that. I thought that DARPA had already looked into it and carried out advance research on to it.

It will be interesting to see what other technology DARPA is looking into.

Originally posted by infinite
I think it will be a good idea researching into to technology like that. I thought that DARPA had already looked into it and carried out advance research on to it.

The post right above yours describes some of the previous versions of exoskeletons DARPA or other entities have worked on.
There was GE's "Hardiman" exoskeleton to enhance lifting strength and stamina for traversing the countryside.
Also, there was the "SpringWalker" that enabled the wearer to jump around as if he was on the moon.
This latest attempt seems to be a culmination of all of these abilities plus more.

It will be interesting to see what other technology DARPA is looking into.

You can find that out at DARPA's web site: LINK

Thanx intelgurl what would i do without you!

iac.dtic.mil...

[Edited on 20-12-2003 by infinite]

[Edited on 20-12-2003 by infinite]

Hmm some very interesting technology. I hope it works out.



[Edited on 20-12-2003 by jetsetter]

Run Forrest !!! Run !!!!

LoL darklanser...

It's interesting and very cool, however it makes me wonder what toys the enemy will come up with. Inevitably, our police forces will also use these exskeleton suits to monitor our streets which could be both a good and bad thing. Reminds me of that movie Robocop. eeek what next?!

As usual the tough job will be hiding this technology from all those wanting to steal it.

I may be showing my age here, but I played an RPG released by Leading Edge Games called Living Steel, which was a paper and dice game written by a chap who now works for JPL. Although I doubt he has anything to do with this Darpa research, he still proposed a realistic suit of power armour (hence the name).

[/img] home.earthlink.net... [/img]

The game itself was quite 'beardy' as all the rules for firearms were based initially on research by the FBI, et al, and hence highly accurate. No 'hit points', no MDC or SDC, just a realistic portrayal of typical wounds, depending on where on the body you are shot and the size/damage potential of the round hitting you.
As a result, the characters are extremely mortal and prone to dying from (un)lucky hits with alarming regularity.
The expanded rules, called Phoenix Command, were even more detailed but are not for the faint-hearted or gun-bunny types, as even the thought of running at a machine gun nest would be enough to get you killed.
Anywho, back on topic ( ), the power armour in the game enabled a person to run twice as fast as a normal human, withstand most small arms fire, punch with six times as much force, lift heavy loads, etc., and each suits' main weapon was a Battlepack consisting of either Gauss, Lase, Rocket or Flechette weapons (primarily) coupled to a backpack which offers auto-assisted reloading mechanisms and armoured ammo feeds.
Some suits had options to fit auxilliary packs, such as HEAT round intercept packs (which fire a cone of ballbearings to prematurely detonate these rounds - the bane of PA), scatter packs (which lauch a fusillade of unaimed darts into a cone roughly 14m long), and Barricade mines (which, when activated, fire barbed wire like cables to stick into the walls of corridors and rooms).
The defensive systems on these suits include radar damping surfaces and Passive Spectrum Regulation Systems (which alter the wavelength of light striking the suit and giving it a limited chameleon capability).
Methinks someone at Darpa has played this game, as some of the features discussed seems to have been influenced by this. Wouldn't be the first time the military has taken their ideas from popular media, like TV or books.

Anyone inclined to play RPG's in the 'old-fashioned' way and interested in PA games, Living Steel is worth checking out. Quite hard to track down some of the books, unfortunately, but worth checking out if you spy one at a convention or something.

[Edited on 22-12-2003 by MacGonzo]

They spend so much money on technology for their soldiers that they begin to think less about basic survival skills.

What use is all the technology to a soldier when he needs to find ways to keep himself barely alive?

Its a tool, an aid to make them more combat effective but it wont keep them alive in the same way as knowing how to stay alive.

Yeah, this exoskeleton would be cool if only it wasn't the US that had it, but instead my own personal army.

All the US is going to use it for is killing more poor brown people.

I would use it to augment the strength of my already powerful atomic super men. With technology like this and a few other "inventions" I could finally unite the world under my leadership.

I just had a though! the ideal weapon to be used against the armour would be........(drum roll plz) an EM pulse! Think about it. If it knocks out all electronic equipment, detonate one in the 5th Powered Infantry division, you end up with quite a few paralysed, useless tin cans with ppl inside. Although there would certainly be an emergency 'let me out' switch that would be mechanical to prevent this sort of stuff, at least you would render the armour useless. or you could attack them with super soakers.

Unless of course its either EM hardened or doesn't quite depend on electromechanical connections. Ever wonder why we're looking so much into biological functions in conjunction with electronics? In the case of an exo suit, I wouldn't be surprised if first we'd want to figure out a way to make nanotubes cheaper. Currently I think we're at 500 bucks a gram, make that cheaper and boom ya got tank armor with something as thick as shirt and weighs about the same. Muscle strength enhancement? No problem, look at how insects can carry large loads, look specifically at muscular movements, whats the speed of a human muscle contracting? Something like a 1km/s if I remember my old bio stuff, its much faster in insects. If you can replicate this on a larger scale you can enhance your suits in a similar fashion.