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Hey...

I dunno the PSP is still better than this, plus you can get it easily by getting 5 of your friends to sign up for one those things and then cancel.

Click here to get the Sony PSP

Last time, Caltech students hacked the 1961 Rose Bowl game:

One Caltech student posed as a reporter and 'interviewed' the director of the University of Washington card stunts (such stunts involve people in the stands who hold up colored cards to make pictures). The reporter learned exactly how the stunts were operated, and also that the director would be out to dinner later.

While the director was eating, the students (who called themselves the 'Fiendish Fourteen') picked a lock and stole a blank direction sheet for the card stunts. They then had a printer run off 2300 copies of the blank. The next day they picked the lock again and stole the master plans for the stunts -- large sheets of graph paper colored in with the stunt pictures. Using these as a guide, they made new instructions for three of the stunts on the duplicated blanks. Finally, they broke in once more, replacing the stolen master plans and substituting the stack of diddled instruction sheets for the original set.

The result was that three of the pictures were totally different. Instead of 'WASHINGTON', the word 'CALTECH' was flashed. Another stunt showed the word 'HUSKIES', the Washington nickname, but spelled it backwards. And what was supposed to have been a picture of a husky instead showed a beaver (nature's engineer-- the Caltech mascot).

I grabbed that one from here, which lists a bunch more hilarious ones. --
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...is to get this developed to the point where it could replace a wheelchair. The psychological advantage to a person who'd lost the use of his legs to actually stand up and interact with the world "eye to eye" would have to be powerful. It probably also doesn't hurt to keep the muscles moving and the appropriate neural pathways firing.

Yea, I know, long way to get there from here, but it's a promising first step. Certainly worth some research dollars in my opinion.
--
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The reason no one has ever actively pursued exoskeletons is because they would be so inefficient. Tanks and such are built with a low profile, and if you ask frontline soldiers, they are only useful in limited roles. My army friend much prefers the new strykers because of their flexibility and reliability.

A mecha would be standing 20 feet in the battlefied, an open and tempting target to everything from bombers to tanks to helicopters and to RPGs. It would have limited mobility, be extremely difficult to keep in working condition, and will have less load capacity than its tracked or wheeled counterparts. In short, it would look cool, but would be a useless coffin.

In BattleTech, they make up for the obvious disadvantages of a mecha by giving them advantages over vehicles. Mecha are more reliable, more maneuvarable, able to take more damage and continue to function, and can carry more weapons. Even then, if you pit a balanced vehicle force against a balanced mecha force, ton for ton, credit for credit, the vehicles can easily overpower the mecha in most circumstances.

I don't want to discourage this project. After all, how many inventions were made when there was no necessity, but a necessity was found at a later time? But I do want folks to exercise a bit of common sense. If exoskeletons were such a great idea, we'd have used them in WWII. We certainly had the technology to build them back then.
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Sure, it wouldn't be as "sexy" as the X-Prize, but wouldn't some privately sponsored prize money do wonders for this longtime human dream? Call it, say, the Mecha Prize, and offer a few million bucks to whoever builds the first mecha that can go a half mile, pick up a Dodge Neon and move it in the air for 50 feet, then return to the starting line. Or something similar.

I have no doubt that someone as creative as Rutan is out there, and with a little incentive and the promise of some real financial gain could use modern actuators and pressure pads and gyro sensors and so forth to finally create a useful mecha.

I also have no doubt that (unlike Spaceship One) a mecha that could complete the above test would immediately be of great value in quite a few industrial and/or emergency applications.
--
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And a Free DS (or PS2/GC/XB).
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..is to build a big robot exoskeleton you can use to crush your enemies... Now this is news for nerds!!

But seriously, robots like this have been science fiction for decades, it's interesting to see respectable institutions taking this seriously. I imagine successful implementation of this technology would again change the face of warfare. With anti-aircraft missles easily mountable on each soilder, perhaps air power will not always be king?

Something to think about... This could be the biggest paradigm shift until they discover a good repulsorlift and make hovertanks.
--
Grab a Free PSP
And a Free DS (or PS2/GC/XB).
Proof It Works (and more info)

...why buy a PSP when you can get one for free?

I participated in some offers from Gratis Internet, and it did work.

I got my free iPod
I got my free mac mini

They lived up to their reputation. You can see my blog posts on getting a free iPod here. I did my best to cover every step... including the waiting.

What I found is you typically will wait about 3-5 weeks after you complete the requirements, until something ships.

But they do ship... and I have yet to pay a penny to complete an offer (there are typically 1 or 2 completely free ones).

I'm currently looking at getting a Sony PSP, so if you want to help make my bounty 3: Here's the link.

Hey-

Check out this great site that is giving away totally FREE Sony PSPs!

I've joined and I think you should as well.

It's a completely legitimate offer, and this company has already given away $4 million in FREE stuff!

All you have to do is join, complete an online offer, and refer friends to do the same. That's it! The company makes money on the referrals, and you benefit with a free PSP!

Visit the site now!
http://www.freepsps.com/

Hey-

Check out this great site that is giving away totally FREE Sony PSPs!

I've joined and I think you should as well.

It's a completely legitimate offer, and this company has already given away $4 million in FREE stuff!

All you have to do is join, complete an online offer, and refer friends to do the same. That's it! The company makes money on the referrals, and you benefit with a free PSP!

Visit the site now!
http://www.freepsps.com/

Hey-

Check out this great site that is giving away totally FREE Sony PSPs!

I've joined and I think you should as well.

It's a completely legitimate offer, and this company has already given away $4 million in FREE stuff!

All you have to do is join, complete an online offer, and refer friends to do the same. That's it! The company makes money on the referrals, and you benefit with a free PSP!

Visit the site now!
http://www.FreePSPs.com

Hey-

Check out this great site that is giving away totally FREE Sony PSPs!

I've joined and I think you should as well.

It's a completely legitimate offer, and this company has already given away $4 million in FREE stuff!

All you have to do is join, complete an online offer, and refer friends to do the same. That's it!

Here is my referral link. To help me get my Sony PSP, click this exact link to join, or copy and paste it into a browser:
http://www.FreePSPs.com

I've always counted my torrents safe... just don't execute weird .exes... guess I better go download a new virus scanner :-(

Free Sony PSPs. It's real. It's here.