Real powered armor

[Mishihari Lord]

Just the thing for your near-future game. Check it out: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2007/11/27/yeates.ut.robo.soldier.ksl

I'm a controls engineer, so this stuff is within my professional competency, and I'm frankly amazed that they were able to do this. The second biggest problem with this kind of thing has always been getting motors with a big enough strength to weight ratio. The biggest, which I would guess they haven't solved yet, is powering the thing for long enough to be useful in the field.

 

[awayfarer]

Awesome. I'd be afraid to leave it alone for too long though. Imagine coming back to it and finding it on cinder blocks?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

They get these things self-contained and looking like Master Sergeant, recruiting is gonna go through the roof.

Hell, I'd sign my fat ass up tomorrow if I got to tool around in a rig like that.

EDIT: 10 years or less, they'll be there.

 

[Drkfathr1]

Or Stormtrooper armor.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Hopefully they will have these deployed in time to ward off the Zerg invasion.

That is really cool. Right now is seems to have a hook for hands. I wonder if they are working on an articulated hand as well.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Hopefully they will have these deployed in time to ward off the Zerg invasion...That is really cool. Right now is seems to have a hook for hands. I wonder if they are working on an articulated hand as well.

This is something I've kept up with for a long time, ever since I read my first Heinlein and heard about the Hardiman project from the 50s. Agree that power to weight ratio has been keeping this impractical until the last few years. Yes the hands have always been the sticking point on applications like this. It's just not easy to mimic the human hand's ability to manipulate. I'd expect to see that at the very least the first few models with hands need to go with say a 3 fingered arrangement in order to reduce complexity and increase strength/reliability.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Right now is seems to have a hook for hands. I wonder if they are working on an articulated hand as well.

Yes the hands have always been the sticking point on applications like this. It's just not easy to mimic the human hand's ability to manipulate. I'd expect to see that at the very least the first few models with hands need to go with say a 3 fingered arrangement in order to reduce complexity and increase strength/reliability.

No, no, no... I want something even more hideously frightening than hooks for hands. I want huge barbed laser-flinging claws of destruction...

... that just retract and fold out of the way when I need to use my God-given hands.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

I don't see the hands as being too tough considering what they've already done. Complex yes, but non unmanageable. Just don't forget what you're doing and scratch your nose.

I was thinking about what practical use this thing would be on the battlefield, though. It's not like you need extreme physical strength when your main weapon is a rifle. My first thought was that you could put enough armor on a man to make him a walking tank. A man-sized unit that's not affected by machine gun bullets sounds like it would be useful.

I'm really curious about their motors, too. When I was in grad school for controls, professors at the University of Michigan were working on all sorts of exotic actuators, like strands of wire that expanded or contracted a lot when the temperature changed.

 

[JDJblatherings]

If soldiers can be made strong enough to move small autos and other obstructions out of the way there would be a definite combat advantage on a battlefield. Being able to grab a wounded soldier and run with him would also be useful. Leaping high enough to get into a second story window would be a cool trick as well.

I don't imagine mamsized units will be ressitant to machine gun fire to any large degree, there are some pretty powerful machineguns out there.

 

[Ampolitor]

cool

"I was thinking about what practical use this thing would be on the battlefield, though. It's not like you need extreme physical strength when your main weapon is a rifle. My first thought was that you could put enough armor on a man to make him a walking tank. A man-sized unit that's not affected by machine gun bullets sounds like it would be useful."

Wow hand to hand would be brutal on the receiving end! (especially if they had a chainsaw sword! plus if they can carry more weight that means longer range with equipment. Carrying a modern pack long distance is hard on the body. This would be a great bonus to the infantryman, especially if it had a way to cool someone off or a self contained chemical agent filter, no more need for MOP suits or carrying them. I'm sure there is a lot in the works that we don't know about,
As for the self autonomous thing, I guess they never saw terminator?