Army Exoskeleton Suit Gives Man Superhuman Strength

hi folks, there have been several threads on the subject of exoskeleton, including one over a year ago on the same company.

Sarcos Exoskeleton

However given recent developments I thought it would be a good idea to see what our friends at Raytheon have been up to lately.



They also have a good description of the technology at the Aviation Week website.

The suit:

YouTube Link

Singularity Hub has imo the best piece on this latest exoskeletal technology:



Well, it's not as pretty as the ironman suit but it is an interesting start ...

Perhaps the SH guys said it best:



Anyhoot, I am not knowledgeable in these matters but I found the story interesting and thought I would share.

They've been working on this for a looooong time now.

The trouble is always the power source. As long as all of these "super soldiers" are tethered by a big-ass short0time battery or some giant cable going back to a mobile power plant of sorts the practicality of these things is null. Once we develop a sort of mini nuclear reactor we'd be good to go.

I love looking over Raytheons and DARPAs site though. It's like a real life X Filed with those guys and one cant help but wonder what they're working on that they don't discuss.

My personal favorite is DARPAs spider-goat hybrids that produce this super strong yet feather weight web being used for armor plating and crazy strong cables and materials.

www.darpa.mil...

www.raytheon.com...

it looks awful lmfao

WoW. Pretty sick! I want one.....

I can't imagine the price tag.?

Yeah, the power source does seem to be the trouble. I noticed it's hooked up to something (from the back).

Interesting....

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

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Hi tgrh,

I was wondering, how about all the recent developments in fuel cell technologies, they've been doing wonders for automobile development. From what I understand power sources are getting smaller and longer lasting.

As you can see I don't really know what I'm talking about but I was wondering why you think a nuclear "power pack" is the best solution?

Or we could stick a two stroke in there.

reply to post by schrodingers dog

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I'm picturing Sigourney Weaver in the exo-skeleton device in the climactic ending of Aliens 2.

Power sources??? Well, I'd bet on cold fusion before too long. Thinking of the 'Doc' from "Back to the Future"....and the 'Mr. Fusion'! Right next to the 'Mr. Coffeemaker'.

Seriously, though. An autonomous device such as this....with a well-engineered power source, and of course, sufficient protection from enemy fire (if you envision this as a weapon for a soldier)...well, possibilities astound!!

reply to post by schrodingers dog

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I dont necessarily. It was just the first thing to come to mind when considering the necessity for a small yet high output/long lasting power source.

Really, it's just going to be whichever comes to meet certain function/cost/reliability/safety parameters first that gets used. For all we know it could be something other than hydrogen fuel cells or nuclear.

Love the boots, put some gold fish in there and get ready to disco like it's studio 54.

Anyway on a serious note this is amazing, but scary imagine if one of these got into the wrong hands, or the simple fact of a person having/feeling that much power brings out the worst in them like power so often does?

I wonder what the weak spots are, and what they would do if say a criminal or a person goes mad while wearing one of these how do they stop them?
I guess just shoot them?


[edit on 12-6-2009 by pop_science]

If they are showing us this , imagine what they really have .

reply to post by schrodingers dog

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They have had design contests going on for this project for quite awhile. Honda made a really good version. One of the design specs was some degree of armor or protection for the wearer. I don't see this suit providing that?

As far as power source, kinetic generators would utilize the momentum and the input of the wearer. New flexible solar panels can be "wrapped" around surfaces, and there is always the cutting edge tech like iron-man used. Eagle Picher Industries has always been decades ahead of the competition, and they are rumored to have micro batteries that work off radiation (similar to nuclear) energy for years! (Eagle Picher gained fame and loyalty when Apollo 13 astronauts survived due to their batteries outperforming all expectations.)

Again, speaking from ignorance, wouldn't that require the user to exert more effort to generate said energy? If so, would that not be somewhat self defeating?

reply to post by schrodingers dog

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It wouldn't require 'more' energy. Instead it could be designed similar to regenerative braking in cars. Maybe on a down step, it would absorb energy, and supply it on an upstep. The idea being that it takes a certain amount of energy to get the suit moving or lifting, and that energy could be recycled when stopping or lowering. It is not 100% conversion, but if it was even 50%, that means storing half as much for the same amount of work!

reply to post by pop_science

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Don't get too excited about this tech "falling in the wrong hands". They make these things called guns that fall into the wrong hands all the time. There are also these things called cars which are much more powerful than this suit.

Let's not overthink this.

Here is something similar by Lockheed called the HULC.
There is also a video along with the article below:

Lockheed offers ready-to-go supersoldier exoskeleton

The only benefits I can see is extra strength and the endurance of that strength.

I see much more cons to these than benefits. lack of agility and mobility. Big, bulky and like all man made machines and equipment, seem to break at critical times.

I woud like to see this guy chase someone and climb walls or trees. My personal opinion is that it is an extremely useless waste of time and money. It would have to be second nature to the user and the guy looks totally awkward.

BIG thumbs down.

reply to post by Grayelf2009

If you want to see another example of what the US military is secretly researching, developing & testing, then go check out the images I've uploaded to my photo area. This is technology straight out of sci/fi and not a word has been leaked to the public before !

reply to post by schrodingers dog

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looks like a portable forklift.
It appears its designed more to increase human physical output rather for weaponry, but it would be cool to see 2 of them fight

Very Aliens 2 and Matrix

[edit on 12-6-2009 by zazzafrazz]

reply to post by schrodingers dog

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Oh freakin' sweet!
I gotta get me one of those!
My life-long dream of becoming a world-dominating super villain just got one step closer to realization!!

This all starting to play out like the video game Halo what's next abducting children to conform them into the ulitmate super solider.

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