first military exoskeleton reaches prototype.

University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) nanotechnologists have made alcohol- and hydrogen-powered artificial muscles that are 100 times stronger than natural muscles, able to do 100 times greater work per cycle and produce, at reduced strengths, larger contractions than natural muscles. Among other possibilities, these muscles could enable fuel-powered artificial limbs, "smart skins" and morphing structures for air and marine vehicles, autonomous robots having very long mission capabilities and smart sensors that detect and self-actuate to change the environment.

The development of these revolutionary muscles was motivated by a visit of Dr. John Main from the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) to Dr. Ray H. Baughman, Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry and director of the UTD NanoTech Institute. During the visit, Main described his visions of a future that could include such advancements as artificial muscles for autonomous humanoid robots that protect people from danger, artificial limbs that act like natural limbs and exoskeletons that provide super-human strength to firefighters, astronauts and soldiers -- all of which are able to perform lengthy missions by using shots of alcohol as a highly energetic fuel.

The fuel-powered muscles can be easily downsized to the micro- and nano-scales, and arrays of such micro-muscles could be used in "smart skins" that improve the performance of marine and aerospace vehicles. By replacing metal catalyst with tethered enzymes, it might eventually be possible to use artificial muscles powered by food-derived fuels for actuation in the human body -- perhaps even for artificial hearts

It looks like things are starting to pick up.

Heres the source. Its a pretty interesting read.
www.sciencedaily.com...

Heres another. It was posted Jan. 28, 2007.

A nanotechnologist in Texas has come up with a way of producing a super-fabric with 100 times the strength of human muscle. The Pentagon now wants him to develop a super-suit for its soldiers.

The Pentagon is hoping that a new type of suit will give its soldiers super-human powers. It would be made from a newly developed super-strong but super-lightweight fabric that could stop bullets and increase the soldiers muscle power up to a hundredfold.

The US military has long been searching for an “Exoskeleton” that would amplify the muscle strength of combat soldiers. However, up until now each attempt had been too inefficient, cumbersome or mechanical to be used.

Now the superpower’s military is hoping to profit from the findings of nanotechnologist Ray Baughman from the University of Texas. He has managed to develop chemically grown nanotubes, which are like tiny muscles. The microscopically tiny particles contract when an electrical voltage is applied and get their energy from a mini fuel cell, that runs on hydrogen and oxygen. The mini muscles are a hundred times stronger than human muscle tissue — and can be woven into a fabric that would contract when heated and go back to its original shape when cooled.

Newsweek reports that Baughman now has a grant from the Pentagon to develop an exoskeleton for the US army. It is hoped that a suit made out of this type of material could allow GIs to jump over high barriers and transport heavy objects quickly and over long distances. The soldiers would be protected by another nano product — a bullet-proof carbon fabric that would be a lot lighter and much stronger than the current bullet-proof vests.

www.spiegel.de...

Originally posted by whatukno

Originally posted by bmxgimp

It'll never get bought if the final version looks like that.

We want proper huge exo-skeletons!With chain guns and rockets!

[edit on 2-2-2007 by bmxgimp]

What are you looking for something like this?

I hate those things (its from a game)

[edit on 18-2-2007 by wildcat]

Originally posted by whatukno

Originally posted by bmxgimp

It'll never get bought if the final version looks like that.

We want proper huge exo-skeletons!With chain guns and rockets!

[edit on 2-2-2007 by bmxgimp]

What are you looking for something like this?

I hate those things (its from a game)