US army robot suits tested

US army robot suits tested

news.bbc.co.uk

The US army is developing robotic suits for its soldiers with the aim of giving them 'superhuman' powers. Rajesh Mirchandani watches them in action.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Looks like there is still some work to do but an interesting project nether the less, although this suit looks more like the one used in Aliens for moving cargo around than the suit used in Ironman?

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by solidshot


It may not be Ironman, but the United States infantry of the future will each be better armored and carry more firepower than an up armored Humvee. With the support of their powered exoskeletons soldiers will be able to be oufitted with armor comparable to a Stryker or Infantry Fighting Vehicle and carry weapons normally only seen mounted on vehicles or tripods, like the XM307-XM312 Objective Crew Served Weapon System that can fire 25mm smart shells (including thermobaric rounds) out to 2000 meters or 12.7mm (aka .50 cal) with a maximum effective range also of 2000 meters, depending on configuration.

Nothing short of an RPG or Anti Tank mine would stop one.

Now take into consideration the development of Active Camo (aka Predator camo) being developed, various tactical combat support drones, and DARPA's SUSTAIN/FALCON (Military Spaceplanes and Spaceborne Paratroops/Space Marines) programs.

You end up with real life Mobile Infantry Starship Troopers or what I prefer to call them Panzermensch.

The US troops of the future will dominate the battlefields without equal.

So if anyone wants to take a shot at the champ, they better get it in while they still have a chance. The window is closing and in less than ten years it will be closed. After that point I have a feeling any war against the US will look like a scene from Terminator films future portion, the US and its allies being like the Terminators and the resistance being the Resistance.

Another thread on this has been running since 11/27/2007 here:

New US Military Technology - the Exoskeleton

finding cover from enemy fire while wearing that thing would be hard...

reply to post by fatdad


Who needs cover when you are in an armor suit designed against bullets and frags?

reply to post by deltaboy


Bigger isn't always better. Normally it just turns you into a bigger and high priority target. Plus, in combat, the element of surprise will only last you for a while until the enemy can adapt and bring weapons designed to take you out... Like a sniper shot to your unprotected head.

reply to post by fatdad


Not really if you think about it.

In urban environment personnel in Powered Armor could maneuver anywhere a human could and without the fatigue experienced by soldiers without the suits.

In addition the armor I can imagine would probably stop anything up 12.7mm/.50 cal. Small arms and hand grenades may be completely useless against a "panzermensch".

I can only imagine the reaction of a guerilla encountering one, it would be a very Terminator like experience.

BTW, wouldn't it be awesome and scary at the same time to combine this exoskeleton technology with Boston Dynamics' Big Dog:

YouTube : Boston Dynamics Big Dog

Forum:
ATS : Big Dog

reply to post by guppy



The Big dog will be one of those tactical combat support drones I was mentioning. They'll be like R2-D2 for the infantry.

Great. Let's spend trillions of dollars developing more weaponry.


When we could spend 1/10th that and make the rest of the world happy by providing food, water, clothing, shelter, medicine, and education.


People fight over access to necessary resources. Or to protect them.


Now, if we're spending this much then it just goes to show that there's enough for everybody. Much MORE than enough.


So why the hoarding?


It's really just about power and control, not making the world a safer place or defending anything. It's about having more than you need, and denying it to others... to rub your own selfish ego.


I'm not talking about Americans. I'm talking about the war profiteers and policy makers in bed with them.



"Since 1940, Washington has spent the unimaginable sum of $20 trillion ($20,000,000,000,000!) on the military--enough money to have provided for adequate nutrition, clean water, electrification, housing, literacy, and basic health care for the world's entire population. In the next four years alone an additional $1.2 trillion will go down the military rathole. Today the U.S. military budget is bigger than that of the rest of the United Nations Security Council members combined. This bloated military establishment exists to protect and serve U.S. capital, to extend and maintain its domination in what used to be called the Third World..." - Richard Becker

The power source seem to be outside the skeleton - so I guess it is still a lot of work to do! I remember a tidy Japanese skeleton made in the early 2000 : same problem with the electricity wires going to be plugged into the mains. So the range - a few meters around the plug !
I guess the next essential step is to work more on power sources - the skeleton could be powered by petrol , or electricity if very high capacity storage would be discovered..

reply to post by guppy


Hence the need for armored helmet. They won't forget that important part of the body.

reply to post by sty



I'm going to say that 1st generation powered armor will have small hybrid multi fuel turbines based on current Auxiliary Power Units, like the rolls royce APU found on some M1A2 Abrams.


Now what would be really great is if they make a Tilt Rotor Flight Pack that could connect to the Turbine and the powered armor.

And then Eureka! We have the human equivalent of AC-130 Spectre gunships.

Here's a link on rolls royce APUs:
www.rolls-royce.com...






[edit on 16/4/08 by MikeboydUS]

What if a solider will nead to scratch his back? And will diapers be in camouflage colors?
Seriously,my bet that it will be just a brief phase, substituted by remotely controlled units and then total AI (and much smaller). The size and lack of agility, as mentioned above, will be a problem. And it costs more then RPG.

I guess that swarn AI using micro-robots would be the most advanced weapon. The robots could be as small as the AIDS virus..

reply to post by ianr5741


Well, there are medical opportunities for this item as well. For example, there's the possibility that it could be used as a tool to help paralyzed people to be able to walk again, as well as to further augment those that are less fortunate than normal.

The point here is this: This new exoskeleton is a tool. As such, it can be used for either good or evil; it knows neither. What it does is based purely on what the person using it wants it to do.

Just my take on this.

TheBorg

reply to post by MikeboydUS


I still believe that you cannot go to war using this skeleton unless you manage to find a reliable power source. Fuels are not on the list , so I would say super-capacitor or another form of storing large ammounts of electrons..

ah well, there'll still be a way to kill these wannabe robot buggers....

and rightly so, who de they think they are?

The Terminator?

reply to post by sty


What list are you talking about?

Whats wrong with a rolls royce hybrid multi fuel turbine unit? It would run off of bio diesel and use hybrid technology, basically you only turn the turbine on when its power pack needs to charged.

I think its a good real world/off the shelf system that could be used until something else comes along.