New US Military Technology - the Exoskeleton

Wow! Check out this video from CNN.

Video URL

Cover it in some of the new armor and imagine U.S military units outfitted with these against whatever the rest of the world has ...

This is why the rest of the world has a hard time being competitive militarily - other countries are always aiming for a moving target. Try and match the U.S. in any area only to find that we've moved on to something better - sometimes far better than what you've just struggled to match.

[edit on 11/27/2007 by centurion1211]

WOW! That is very impressive. The only draw back would be the energy source. If they could get at least 8 hours of work time with it on a full charge then that is all that's needed for 3 shifts. One recharging while the others being used. This would be good in shipping/receiving. I don't know about combat yet but who knows what they will come up with next.

reply to post by cloakndagger


At the end of the video, they talk about it running off its own power pack. And some of the prototypes shown closely resemble the imperial storm troopers from Star Wars.

Maybe the rest of the world is right to fear the U.S., er, American Federal Empire ...



[edit on 11/28/2007 by centurion1211]

Yep. It looks great. Man it can even lift ammo boxes onto a table "really quickly". How cost efficient is that ? It only costs 27 quadtrillion dollars to buy and only requires 1000 white coated laboratory munchkins to make it work ... and absolute bargain ... heck we can disband the 101st and all go home.

Robosoldier has arrived !

Ha ha Arabia. Where's your boxcutters now, huh ?

[/cynicism]

reply to post by Niall197


You obviously failed to watch the complete video. Try it again. It answers your comments.



[edit on 11/27/2007 by centurion1211]

Oh come on Centurion1211 what possible military advantage would that thing give you ? Look at the complexity of it .... how could you possibly keep that thing well maintained out in the field ?

This vid shows you the exo skeleton in its first real life combat situation ! Awesome !

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by centurion1211


Just think of what a little of this stuff could do as armor on a soldier like that: www.timesonline.co.uk...

Wow is right! Turn this rough prototype into an aerogel armored, composite or nano-based unit, and you've definitely got a superhuman soldier.

Of course, if you really want to get fancy, we seem to be under a decade away from invisibility technology as well: www.wired.com...

[edit on 27-11-2007 by lifestudent]

I can also easily imagine a host of non-military uses for this technology. The construction, mining and petroleum industries for example, could all use the exoskeleton to extend what their workers can currently do and also offer them more personal protection.

What military advantage? You have to be kidding me man. These exoskeletons will not only change the entire military, but life as we know it!

Imagine what someone in a wheelchair could do with an exoskeleton robotic system instead of just a chair?

The exoskeleton systems being developed could change almost everything about life around us. Why? It is because they are designed to augment the movements and actions of the human body. Everything humans do basically could use part or all of an exoskeleton system.

How about working out in a gym with an exoskeleton weight lifting system? Who needs a spotter when you can just dial in how much you want the exoskeleton to help you lift the weight? And since it moves with you, you could program the machine to add just a little more resistance right when you need it most for peak contraction. In this regard, the exoskeleton could make each and every soldier completely physically fit by making the soldier work out with the system.

If a soldier was injured while wearing an exoskeleton then he wouldn’t need a corpsman to drag him out of harms way. Instead, the soldier would be able to walk, or even run, with simply more assistance from the robotic system. As well, if the corpsman had an exoskeleton then he could carry 2 or 3 people out of harms way all at the same time. The exoskeleton might even be able to hold the person in the air and walk with him while the corpsman is working with his hands to stop the bleeding.

How much extra armor could a soldier carry with an exoskeleton on, or how much more weaponry could he carry? With an exoskeleton the soldier could carry a huge amount of ammo to the rally point with extra armor and then exit the robot to perform the mission. Once the mission is done, he would go back to the rally point, get in the exoskeleton and then hot foot it back to base. It wouldn't matter how tiered he really was once he got the exoskeleton on because at that point the robot would be doing most of the work and the soldier could be resting while moving.

The exoskeleton would also give you greater mobility than a humvee or a tank. In a built up area, vehicles can largely only travel on the roads. An exoskeleton could weave in and out of back allies and even in and out of houses while moving to or from the objective area. It wouldn’t matter if insurgents planted bombs on the roads. You wouldn’t need to travel on the roads and you could still carry a lot more equipment than the soldier could by himself.

An exoskeleton would enable a soldier to carry and fire much larger weapons than normal. Not to mention the ability to deploy those weapon at a much farther distance. How far could you throw a satchel charge with an exoskeleton? Probably a lot farther than you could without one.

One soldier with an exoskeleton could perform the job of an entire 3 man mortar team, all by himself, and carry all the ammo too perhaps. And with the help of an exoskeleton that same soldier could fire much larger mortars than normal also.

Almost everything in our military is designed around the capabilities of the average person. An exoskeleton changes that basic equation such that the military can truly design whatever weapon system it needs to employ to get the job done without the constraints of the capabilities of the average person.


[edit on 28-11-2007 by Hot_Wings]

[edit on 28-11-2007 by Hot_Wings]

[edit on 28-11-2007 by Hot_Wings]

Nice - Now we need to make storm bolters, powerfists and gene seeds.

reply to post by Niall197


All technology is expensive and complex. That's the way technological evolution happens. We've seen it with cars to computers, microwaves to cell phones, airplanes to basketball shoes. If they're persuing it now, you can count on them to have already made leaps and bounds in the technology.

That is absolutely amazing! My sound isnt working for some reason, so I couldnt listen. But I agree with other responses....that this could be used for more then military use.

Amazing!

reply to post by centurion1211


Also it reminds me of the "loader" in Aliens which Ripley had a Class 2 rating. The world is right to fear the U.S. and should anyone step out of line- look out!

Imagine what we have not yet seen!

May the farce be with you!

Already done on this thread:

Sarcos Exoskeleton

Shattered OUT...

This suit looks promising for certain tasks, and I stress certain tasks, in the military and on the battlefield, after costs of production have been streamlined and the suit has been improved even more.

Right now, it is too slow to be effective in close combat situations where hand to hand combat is occurring. It's not the hands, it's the legs that make it noticeably slower on its' feet than a bare human. An insurgent could run around that slow thing so darn fast that he could stab the guy a number of times at the many places where he is exposed. Very easy to run around the back and stab in the neck. Then the insurgent takes over the suit, hehe.

Imagine street combat in Iraq, urban combat. You've got some guys deployed in these suits going around on their own doing something requiring lots of lifting/pushing/crushing power, perhaps "the first guy that goes into the room". But even then, the guys behind him would lose any surprise advantage, as the front man would be a tad bit slower b/c of this suit. Who cares if it can bust the door down with ease, we can bust down the door too with a bit of effort, then be faster once we get inside.

I could see a fully armored version used as the "front man" to take the hits and any blast or improvised bomb that is waiting for them, thats about it. And its too expensive to play human shield im sure.

But for the ARMY RESERVE and for the NATIONAL GUARD, who are usually sitting back firing off artillery, resupplying certain units with fuel, ammo, and supplies, or who are placed into defensive roles in relatively low-violence areas, it could be very useful, in limited numbers. The Marines and Airborne and all that go out into the bush taking the fight to the enemy. So while they are doing that, these guys could be shooting off artillery much faster, loading and unloading trucks and supply convos wayyy faster, utilizing their systems to repair vehicles easier due to their lifting potential, and also to free people from bomb scenes that are trapped in rubble etc.

But as you see in the video, there are no functional hands complete with multi jointed digits on display, just hooks for hands. Lets see if they can get the fingers down and the hands to mimic a human, then I will be impressed. This impresses me, but then I'd be convinced of its potential for offensive operations. As of right now I think it is VERY limited to very special roles, typically reserve and guard roles, not offensive roles.

But. lets see what the boys come up with. Perhaps if the suit isn't too heavy, the existing "jump pack" technology could be applied, that allows certain daredevils, if you wanna call em that, to rocket up into the air with this rocket backpack, and back down to the ground. We've all seen it on tv at some point or another. That could make for a nasty addition, because these badboys could FLY into the combat, complete with certain higher power weaponry that could be attached to the back or should areas, providing for a mobile weapon platform that can fly short distances as well.

Thats all what if .. right now its just a cool looking ammunition loader.

But, it does make my mind wander into Warhammer 40K Land as I think of Space Marines Armor and Terminator Armor and all these wonderful suits that make the wearer a bad arse.

[edit on 11/28/2007 by runetang]

Hot_wings is absolutely correct and names only a tiny fraction of the possibilities. This technology is far from polished, but it will get better very, very quickly. The possibilities are endless. PS: buy stock in exoskeleton companies.

Exoskeleton tech has to start somewhere, even if you ain't impressed about the first prototype since you have high expectations of Master Chief with a suit hundreds of years ahead in the future. This is the 21st century, not the 25th.

This is the epitomy of why the United States is ass backwards and knee deep in crap right now.

Did anyone else notice that this was being tested my the military and not by warehouse or shipping companies? This suit could have hundreds of non-military uses, but they only industry to invest in it's creation was the military complex.

Nice. Billions spent on Research and Development. It only shows that our priority is war. It shows the direction that we're heading. Once we've mastered the robotic form that needs no human host to operate it, there will be no need for the soldier.

Now, who wants to have a superpower on the planet that has a robotic army at its diposal? If Britian doesn't like our proposal ... send in the droids. Don't want to ship the amount of oil we ordered ... send in the droids. Civic uprising ... send in the droids.

The outlook for a future Free America is bleak — at best.

Originally posted by deltaboy
Exoskeleton tech has to start somewhere, even if you ain't impressed about the first prototype since you have high expectations of Master Chief with a suit hundreds of years ahead in the future. This is the 21st century, not the 25th.

I agree delta, most people here at ATS are very short-sighted and have limited neural activity.

The implications of this expose by sarco is amazing. It won't take long to achieve an exoskeleton armor that rivals MC in Halo. 3 to 5 years at most. If DARPA allowed this to be seen they are that close.... this is just an acclimation video to see public response to a primitive technology. I'm sure they have the "real" version already hidden somewhere.

Carbon-fiber-nanotubes, on-board quantum computer/neural network; lightweight, low energy - it's all done.

-Euclid

there's nothing stopping them from recording the motions of the users and using that data to program these things to move unassisted. because the data would coming from recordings of human motion they could be very lifelike.

i read a thread a few minutes ago about terminator-like robots that the government has that i didn't really believe at first, but this does make me wonder.