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Powered Exoskeletons In The Near Future?
PhReaKyDMoNKeY writes "Discover Magazine's latest issue has a story about powered exoskeletons and how they aren't terribly far off. Sounds pretty damn cool, except maybe for the centaur flatbed model. Screw a Segway, gimme one of these babies."
exoskeletons really BUG me.
Is it just me, or does the image of the soldier on the first page of that article look like someone tried to add the "exoskeleton" in Microsoft Paint?
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Armor baby!
I will become the machine.
-Rothfuss
I'm too old for the army, but I think it would be extremely fun to put on my "running pants" and motorcycle helmet and run 50 miles to work like the bionic man. I hope that the no pedestrians rule would be waived so I could use the commuter carpool lane.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
absolutely revolutionize the tactical structure of the armies posessing them. For example, if every footsoldier has the survivability of a light APC and the punch of one as well due to the increased load bearing capacity, this obviously lends a serious edge to that army. The consequences go deeper than that, as well. Becuase of increased complexity, more staff will be needed for support, and increased soldier skill will be needed. This dovetails exactly with the shift from large standing armies composed of recruits (think WW2 america or the chinese army of today) to small, highly trained special operations units (which in combination with advanced air support, are devastation incarnate, as proved in Afghanistan today).
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
One of my favorite The Onion articles:
Stephen Hawking Builds Robotic Exoskeleton . It's got a great photo.
This isn't as much "normalization" as it is "don't take so many drugs when you're designing tables."
Great now we have even more power over our "foes". Can't we find a better use.
Run..Its cyborg godzilla!!
Carpe meam simiam!
Fight Spammers!
I will believe that exoskeletons are possible when I see such other anime cliches as germ warfare, human cloning, apocalyptic events and cynical plots to form a one world government come true.
Oh wait...
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
I wonder if you could build a regenerative motor that throttles on and off, and when it's off, it uses the person's motion to recharge. This is how electric cars recharge (regenerate during braking, etc.) so I don't see why it can't be done here. Sure, it's a magnitude smaller than an electric car, but then again, they're only shooting for 2hp not 100 or more. I think if you have someone walking, that should generate a few watts to charge it right?
Heh, it's pretty cool how they actually did the Exoskeleton thing in Aliens . Apparently they got some big strong muscle dude to be on the 'inside' of the suit (no joke), Ripley just had to stand in the thing.
I'm worried about the dry-cleaning bill, though.
--Chag
--Chag
1964: Government sponsored Hardiman project. I remember reading about this in a robots book in 1997.
Link to howstuffworks
I still want a veritech fighter. I'd go to war in one of those.
Read, enjoy!
"Add a soupçon(?) of artificial intelligence and the suit could save its wearer if he is wounded. "You could send a command to take this guy home," says Stephen Jacobsen, CEO of Sarcos."
Then so could the enemy, I would guess...
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
For example, if every footsoldier has the survivability of a light APC and the punch of one as well due to the increased load bearing capacity, this obviously lends a serious edge to that army.
Would it?
You could, for example, outfit each soldier to be able to move at superhuman speed, and carry a couple of tons of equipment... but wouldn't it make more sense just to give that soldier a jeep? Same capabilities, and lower complexity and cost.
Want to be able to move over any kind of terrain? Send a helicopter instead of a jeep.
An exoskeleton is basically a vehicle optimized to mimic human mobility ranges. Which is silly - optimize a vehicle to work as a vehicle, and it'll be simpler and more efficient.
Exoskeletons are really, really cool, and I want one too, but I don't think they'd be terribly useful in war, for the same reason that jet packs aren't (conventional vehicles do the job better).
BURKE: I heard you were working in the cargo docks.
RIPLEY: That's right.
BURKE: Running loaders, forklifts, that sort of thing?
===
It's obvious that this is a dead-end profession just waiting to happen!!! Don't buy into the hype!
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
So, when I used to work at the Atomic Dinosaur Laboratory, we used to do all sorts of anotomical structural engineering. (You know those dinosaur exhibits at museums - well, they are polysynthetic molds of the real fossils... don't be fooled). Well, for a long time, we talked about how cool it would be to take the Thorium out of smoke detectors (lessons learned in the dormitories) and an alpha source and just create a nuclear powered animatronic dinosaur... I know for a fact that, at the Universities, people talk about this stuff and draw up blueprints in their spare time... Apparently, there are some people who have started to actually build prototypes...
Anyhow, keep an eye out for stuff like this being developed by your car companies like Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Mercedes, BMW, et al... They got the stereo-3D auto-CAD systems to design it, the robotics experience, and the polymers material science to pull something like this off in real-time and at a commercial level...
Think about the Aliens construco-bot thing that is used for space construction... but with a Mercedes or Toyota logo on it.
Oh - and also think about the Battle-Bot contests on TV, and your old BattleTech and RoboTech role-playing games... Think those were just games? I don't think so...
Although we have striven much to make our weapons of war far more accurate we still have substantial problems with the fact that the only safe way to deliver these munitions is from thousands of feet in the air. It's likely that when the numbers are tallied up as many afghan civilians will be dead as US civilians killed in the WTC attack. In an increasingly interconnected world, innocent casualties are increasingly less tolerable thus making what may be necessary military action very difficult to get the political motivation to undertake.
On the other hand if you can pack a tremendous amount of firepower and armor into a man portable unit (such as power armor). It makes it feasible to put men on the ground quickly without significantly increasing risks of casualties, etc. These men on the ground have a greater ability to precisely attack important targets than we can ever hope to achieve with a cruise missile or laser guided bomb.
The benefit is that the combatants will be the ones who really get involved and the civilians should be able to remain relatively unscathed.
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Furthermore, the exoskeleton has no real peaceful benefit.
Yeah, I mean, why would a parapalegic want to walk?
Did you bother to read the story? If you had you would have read:
But François Pin, who heads the Oak Ridge effort, sees dozens of nonmilitary uses as well. "Construction is a $4 billion industry in this country, and it's very primitive. We are injuring people every day. Cargo handling, search and rescue--the possibilities are endless." Ultimately, exoskeletons could transform society. The elderly could regain the physical abilities of youth, and paraplegics could walk. "
Steve M
Plus, being able to climb into a superhuman suit (superstrength) would be an EXCELLENT way to steal stuff. Crime would skyrocket, would it be introduced. Please understand that once something is invented, it is nearly impossible to uninvent it. Furthermore, the exoskeleton has no real peaceful benefit. And in today's age, no information is safe. Consider this.
The same could be said of any weapon.. I mean..
being able to climb into a tank would be an EXCELLENT way to steal stuff.
or
being able to fire a rocket propelled grenade would be an EXCELLENT way to steal stuff.
or
being able to command a crack squad of special force units would be an EXCELLENT way to steal stuff.
These are no more dangerous to the general public as any other weapon the military makes.. Crime never skyrocketted at the invention of a military grade weapon before.. what makes you think it will suddenly happen now?.. These things probably cost the taxpayer several million if not billion dollars each.. it's not like we've seen many people steal stealth bombers and go on joyrides lately.. I doubt the military will have less security over one of these things.. and it's not like the average street punk will be able to buy one..
I thought someone said there was going to be free beer!
For those of you having trouble getting through to the article you can see a picture of the proposed exoskeleton here
:)
On the back of my homework? I have a notebook full of variations. The earlier ones, of course, wouldn't have worked, but the later ones, especially two, known familiarily as "Elemental" and "Raven" from the BattleTech series would definately have worked. An OS would have to be created, and the wiring finalized, but as for the design, it was great. Very scalable, I just made the skeletons, not the armor.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
the same was said for nuclear technology, how it's only purpose is destructive (although it's medical and power usefuls are quite helpful). any technology can be used negatively, it's only a matter if we create safe gaurds against abuse. i could see these becoming very useful for fire fighters running into burning buildings (or collapsing trade centers for that matter).
F-bacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
Right now, there's 3 specific things stopping the production and effective use of powered-suits/exoskeletons (and sadly most of the solutions still fall into the range of Sci-Fi)
1. Power source - a portable fusion reactor seems the most likely. Flywheels perhaps, but containment is an issue. (though rupturing a charged flywheel would create some excellent battlefield fireworks)
2. Light yet Strong building material - current alloys are on the right track, but so far the magic strength/weight ratio has yet to be found
3. Control methods - right now, even our most advanced robotics control is stilll slow and cubersome analog input- joysticks and buttons. Something along the line of either thought-reading or perhaps datasuits that mimic the pilot's limb motions.
And from the article, I thus quote:
Kazerooni expects partial versions will hit the market first. "A factory worker might have just a pair of enhanced arms," he says. "There will be many job-specific applications for arms alone or legs alone."
This is providing of course that said worker is strong enough to carry and support the enhanced arms, I can't help but wonder... If a man screams in agony in an empty factory after having his arms ripped from their sockets, will there be a sound?
Wax-Museum Fire Results In Hundreds Of New Danny DeVito Statues
Vehicles are designed to transport, designing a vehicle to fight is less than effective. If you look at a tank, it is basically a truck to carry a big gun around, and enough armor to protect that gun so that it can blow lots of things up. In the end it's terribly inefficient, and imprecise. It's excellent for open warfare on a cleanly drawn battlefield, but for fighting house to house, etc, it is a poor choice.
If you look at the recent history of warfare where tanks were available, look at what happens. You have the tanks run these rapid attacks that overwhelm large open territory but then you get into a village or city and suddenly tanks are useless (unless you plan to blow the city to smithereens). suddenly you are back to a style of warfare little beyond fighting with muskets and swords.
On the other hand, if you can make relatively heavy weapons and armor available in an infantryman size package, you can get into much smaller areas and still have overwhelming force. You'll still need infantry, but this provides a signifcant augmentation to the availabilt of heavy firepower in close.
Also, think about situations where you simply need to police a city. Policing a city with a tank is impossible because you end up killing a lot of bystanders and destroying lots of property needlessly. Having a few armored troops allows you to focus your attack much more precisely. Try chasing that rebel with AK-47 down an alley with an M1A1 and see how well it works.
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Forget SpringWalker and these other technologies that aren't available yet--you can get a pair of PowerSkip boots today. These were posted on Slashdot last April 1st, and many people thought they were a joke; they aren't, and you can be out running around in them and jumping cars for around $800-1000.
The only certainty is entropy.
> Screw a Segway, ...
...
If the exoskeletons are anotomically correct enough, you just might be able to do that
"Old man yells at systemd"
When a uses it's brakes to stop, it is taking all the kinetic energy it has and bleeding it off as heat, via the brakes. That energy is lost.. so using that energy to generate power to be used later makes good sense.
A person walking around is not losing energy in the same fashion... they are using just what they need to move around.
I doubt the first suits will give enhanced strength, speed AND agility. They will probably look more like the loaders in Aliens.
A robbery generally requires stealth, or else the law will show up with overpowering force (they'll have powered suits too, you know).
So my guess is that anyone who walks into a bank wearing one of these huge suits, knocking around those rope separators for the lines, and generally looking like a bull in a china shop is going to get noticed and then caught.
Unfortunately, I seriously doubt there would be any real military uses for quite a while, with the exception of heavy-lifting.
It's one thing to have a device that can handle (relatively) slow, deliberate movements, and augments strength. It's a completely different matter to have a armored, fast-responding 'cyborg'.
The biggest advantage, and use of this technology for the near term is in warehouse/repair duty. Forklifts are usually clumsy at best, where an exoskeleton could supplant (but not replace) these lumbering beasts.
They'd be great for, say, Home Depot. This way an employee can pick up a couple of 100 lb bags of cement, and stack it in the store as easily as it would be do stack a bean-bag.
But a military application? Not anytime soon. Let's not forget these devices require a power source. For the few minutes of operation, they'd be great. But don't forget that adding weapons and armor will do two things: SEVERELY tax the power supply, and when the power is gone, the frame makes the soldier a sitting duck for a fair amount of time while the suit is either re-charging/fueling, or the soldier is scrambling out of the suit.
Any more armor than enough to stop standard rifle/handgun fire would weigh FAR too much to be practical for the time being.
Even with gas-powered fuel cells... there wouldn't be enough power for an armored unit. The response time would be too great.
A neural interface at the base of the skull (to transmit the motion signals from the soldier's brain to the suit) would speed up the response time greatly. But let's not forget that things are still bound by Mr. Newton's laws. The mass of even a lightly armored limb doesn't start and stop on a dime easily (not with enough armor to stop hand-held arms fire, anyway). It would take tremendously powerful superconducting motors to achieve that feat. But then, you're adding a cryo pack to the suit for the magnets. Even more weight and parts to break.
Not that the military wouldn't toy with the idea; it's just that they realize the practical limitations as well. Strength-enhancing suits I can see; armored body-suits... not for a while.
It's a great idea, until you deploy them without a heavy support team nearby. The logistics alone on an armored suit would be prohibitive. It's not like they can operate for weeks on end with only MRE's and sanitizer-tablets.
-- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
The russians already have this: BBC. There have been other examples of exoskeleton-type things in the past as well.
/Janne
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
;^)
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Heck, just look at these things.
The prospects remind me of several cartoon series
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
It sounds from the article like they're a lot closer to something like the loader that Ripley drove in the movie Aliens than they are to a mobile infantry solution. i.e. bulky, slow and clumsy but hellaciously strong. It's going to be a long haul to refine this stuff to the high degree of dexterity needed for the applications they have in mind. But it sounds cool--good luck to them!
---
Gort! Klatu Barata Nikto!
I think we need to consider internal applications first. Specifically, a powered spine for Congress-persons...
Every time I hear "Special Forces", I always think of "Special Olympics."
I probably shouldn't let the Special Forces guys hear me say tha*CRUNCH* AAGH! MY NECK!
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
Big, hulking suits of armor and powered transportation that let a single soldier outfight and outmaneuver others...
...is this unique? Not really. Think of the Middle Ages, when Western-style warfare was ruled by mounted knights, with their 100-pound steel suits of full plate armor and their heavy war horses. Back then, armor and equipment was more equally balanced with the lethality of weapons. Hence, small units of elite troops (heavy cavalry) could rout much larger units of normal infantry.
When firearms started to really catch on, mounted knights slowly lost their elite status as they became less effective militarily. The balance between armor and weapons swung once more in favor of weapons, and it became more important to put lots of soldiers on the ground with weapons than it was to field small, specialized units.
So, you have a circle between highly trained units and large masses of soldiers that starts with the Roman legions, goes through Middle Age heavy cavalry, on to the massive conscript armies of Napoleon, then to the German Panzer units of the initial blitzkrieg, to the advent of "endless wave" doctrine used to most effect by China and North Korea, and finally to the development of close air-supported special forces. I obviously focused on land warfare and still left out a lot of different military innovations and tactics throughout history, but you can see a reversible shift between emphasis on lots of weapons and emphasis on specialized, highly trained and well-protected troops.
Maybe more importantly for the here and now, the US military has recognized the need to be flexible, and that both types of land warfare can be effective in the right situation. The many branches of their special operations troops and their huge armored divisions both have their place at the table.
Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Note for military exoskeleton designers: perhaps bury the powerpack deep inside the armor; a large obvious powerpack jutting out from the rear of the exoskeleton may be counterproductive.
Other things to consider: perhaps also do not label the powerpack "powerpack" and do not color it bright red when the rest of the armor is dark blue.
Imagine: the onboard computer crashes and the knee motor decides to do a 360. Goodbye leg.
I've seen this happen on the legged robots here in the lab. When that happens we just hit the kill switch and resolder the broken wires. I'd hate to have the "exoskeleton" kill someone because of a computer hiccup.
If I could bring back the dead at Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Tchernobyl, I would gladly get rid of today's nuclear power plants. They are, in any case, inefficient and dangerous. Even in industrialized countries, most don't even break even without government aid.
And I know of no nuclear-based medical technologies. Are you referring things like X-rays and cancer treatment? Nuclear technology is hardly needed for those applications; all you need is to dig out a radioactive rock from the ground and expose someone to it.
No, it's clear that nuclear technology is a dangerous technology whose invention was a dark day in the history of humanity. That said, I don't have anything against these exoskeleton things. They look helpful for handicapped people and, if we're lucky, may eventually lead to an Angelic Layer-like game :).
It is fine and easy to level a tiny country like Afganistan, but what happens with something more like India or Indonesia???
Is anybody else dying to borrow this thing for a day, and track down some of the people who picked on you during high school?
Give *me* an atomic wedgie, will you?!
Maybe it's just me...
:-)
If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.
We've discovered this article, which is an interesting read. In other news, their sysadmins have "Discovered" the Slashdot effect. Right now, I bet they're thinking "Ah, the thrill of Discovery!" ;)
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Not nearly as painful as bleeding to death on the battlefield. Plus, I'm sure they could probably put a syringe of morphine somewhere in the exoskeletal suit if the pain gets too bad. Trust me, the military has got some good meds.
Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses
Personally I can't wait for them to arrive, then I can finally get to say "Get away from her you bitch!"
Any sufficiently advanced man is indistinguishable from God
... but here's something u might not have heard was that we killed more people in the fire bombings of Tokyo than the nuclear explosions did.
Any technology is dangerous when in the wrong hands. I agree that nuclear technology does prevent a unique threat because it kills so many in such a small amount of time, but because of the spread of nuclear technology, a sufficient deterent has been created.
I bet people where saying the same thing when the cannon ball and cannon was invented. TNT could kill a lot now.
We better keep inventing. If we don't continue to advance, people who evil intentions will advance and use their advances to do great harm. If we continue to advance, we can control discovered technologies and hopefully be able to keep dangerous uses in check.
F-bacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
Although power issues remain thorny, control technologies have come a long way over the past decade. In the late 1990s, Pin's group built an artificial arm that responds instantly to commands and can load 4,000-pound bombs into F-15 jet bays. The operator grabs a handlelike device at the end of the arm's framework, and the machine follows his motions, providing force-feedback so he can feel the bomb's weight, shape, and inertia. "We had young guys from the Air Force who had never seen a computer; they were successfully loading bombs with this thing in 15 minutes," Pin says.
and this is a good thing?
full length albums complete with print resolution artwork -- earth2willi.com
Rolling on wheels is much more efficient than running. I imagine that the exoskeleton should have wheels so that when you are on manageable terrain, use wheels for movement, and to negotiate tougher terrain, revert back to using legs.
As for the whole exoskeleton vs. segway thing, why not just segway into the exoskeleton as part of the wheels? Imagine if you had one wheel on each foot, then you can just roll down the road - and if the exoskeleton has more power available to it, it makes the speed and range even better!
but wouldn't it make more sense just to give that soldier a jeep?
No, for several reasons. Want examples? Read Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (warning, movie is reputed to have avoided anything involving insight or thought, but I highly recommend the book. It manages to balance readable action with reasonably objective insight).
An exoskeleton is basically a vehicle optimized to mimic human mobility ranges.
Exactly, and human mobility ranges are IDEAL for rough terrain and urban terrain. Pick a war:
Basically, there are two kinds of wars: those which offer a maneuverable battlefield, and those that don't. In the former, air superiority and ground armor (read: tanks, not jeeps) are the decisive factor. In the latter, the amount of firepower, coordination, tactical information, and maneuverability of the foot soldier is the key, and exoskeletons will allow the foot soldier to have a serious advantage in those areas, and probably to gain some armor too eventually. Note also that opponents of the US will be trying to arrange non-maneuverable battlefields, because it's becoming clear that challenging the US on that field is suicidal, just as the Arab countries have stopped starting tank wars with Israel and instead moved to terrorism and popular uprising.
Another lesson from Black Hawk Down - the amount of tactical information available is now exceeding the ability of command elements to grasp it all. The old "fog of war" meant you couldn't see. The new "fog of war" means you can't see the forest because you've got more trees than you can take in. As information and communication equipment is pushed out to the foot soldier (remember, an exo lets you carry more) this problem will only get worse, which means that the challenge for today's (high-tech) military is to improve their information processing systems so they can keep up and use the right info to make good decisions.
(Almost made it through without an Appleseed reference!)
Assume we did have perfectly working exoskeletons.
In heavy lifting, how would the weight be transferred from arms to feet? It looks like the arms module is separate from the feet module, which does not touch the ground. So would the soldier's spine be able to cope with the weight? Would his feet?
Now the superhuman running. Would the soldier's knees and other joints be able to move fluidly at high speed for the extended time?
I'm very impressed with the machines built there. I'm disappointed, though, that the trend seems to be towards more legs and less balance-oriented control. I was hoping for fully self-contained monopods from that project.
I have been reading these exoskeleton articles for longer than the holographic memory articles -- that is, a REALLY LONG TIME. Anyone remember the Hughes "Land Warrior" program? Wasn't that like 10 years ago?
No one loves the idea of powered exoskeletons more than I do, heck, I have worn our my Aliens DVD... but I can't take another optimistic article. I never, ever want to hear about this again until I see a solider demoing one at an air show... ok, maybe when fas.org has an article on models currently deployed. I'll settle for that.
(and I never want to hear about holographic memory until I can look for it on Pricewatch, either.)
"We had young guys from the Air Force who had never seen a computer; they were successfully loading bombs with this thing in 15 minutes," Pin says.
That scares the FUCK out of me. Why the fuck is someone part of our countrys high tech defense if they havent even used a computer? AND why The FUCK are they loading bombs?! Talk about a fucked up place and I live here.
"Not my manner of thinking but the manner of thinking of others has been the source of my unhappiness." - M
While these exoskeletons look impressive and will add equally impressive capablities, they're not even in proto type yet. The suit pictured in the article is just a mockup to helpd figure out how to attach the servos and sensors. Even so, the military is definitely taking this whole concept very seriously. The suit pictured is intended as a general purpose infantry enhancement allowing a foot soldier to carry heavier weapons, more supplies, or a whole bunch of body armor. Note the "or". These suits are not the "Mobile Infantry" suits of Starship Troopers. For more info, I'd suggest going to www.darpa.gov and entering "exoskeleton" into their search box. Lot's of neat projects and white papers there. They're also working on a back pack helicopter thing that looks totally cool.
This is how the military works. The poor dumb f*s load the bombs while the techs, pilots, and other valuable people go in the bunker or run errands well out of range... 8-)
Seriously, just because someone isn't a hacker doesn't make him stupid. The USAF trains stupid guys as cooks or personnel clerks, not as bomb loaders. (This is why our records were always f*d up and we'd rather eat at the Navy mess hall if possible...) It's much safer to have someone used to manual labor doing the loading than some geek -- even if the AF managed to put some muscles on the geek. Manual laborers do develop a pretty good instinctive understanding of forces and balance; they can't calculate it, but they do know how far they can lean over while holding a 100 pound bomb. And if the bomb is big enough that manual lifting isn't going to do, then (at present) you've got these same guys driving forklifts or something. It's much safer to have them running a rig that amplifies their muscle power so they can use their experience in hand-loading, than running a fork truck with a half-dozen control levers that do _not_ work intuitively.
In the article, they have pictures of an arm used for loading big stinking bombs onto planes that simply mimics the user's limb motions, and uses force-feedback so that the user can feel the weight of the bomb through the interface. So that one, at least, we have already done.
Without GPS you can't fire a single Cruise Missile
Not at all true - GPS is just more accurate than inertial guidance systems. When you're aiming at an airfield, power complex, or military base, the ability to hit the exact 15 feet you want is nice but not necessary. Cruise missiles did exist before GPS, you know.
Without GPS you'll find it hard to find your bombing targets / intercept enemy fighters
Not at all true - AWACS, Predator drones, and special forces on the ground with laser targeting provide that. Very few enemy fighters are intercepted at the appropriate GPS coordinates in any case. (Except the Iraqis, who could be reliably intercepted at Iranian air bases)
Take GPS from the picture and US-style "warfare" is a very different proposition.
I'm not up-to-date on the weaponry, but I strongly suspect that GPS is not the only targeting system available today - just the most commonly used, because it is the most accurate. Yes, collateral damage would go up, but the ability to wage war would not be severely impacted.
I suspect that if the GPS system was knocked out, there would be a few hours or days pause as the other guidance systems are pulled out, dusted off, and screwed on. Keep in mind, many of the bombs dropped on Afghanistan were built during the Vietnam war. Old military hardware never dies, it just sits on the shelf until it is needed.
Is there a military buff out there who is familiar with what the state-of-the-art is in non-GPS weapon guidance systems? Please chime in!
Bigger issue than the power source. After all, you can strap a 500hp V8 and a big petrol tank to someone's back.
Perfect target for a heat seeking missile.
HTH HAND etc.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
I am putting this idea out for two reasons - to get people thinking, and also to act as a sort of "prior art" for patent reasons (not really sure it would count, though).
Ok, so they are wondering how to power this thing, while keeping it small, right? Well, that little Sarcos blurb got me thinking:
Sarcos's suit will incorporate a separate, hydrogen- or petroleum-fired piston at every joint, an approach that aims to avoid the losses that plague distributed-power systems.
...and here is what I came up with:
You know those pneumatic contraction muscles that exist out there (I think there is also a hydraulic version as well)? They use something akin to a mesh, sorta like a "chinese handcuffs" weave, and a bladder inside that when filled with air (or hydraulic fluid), causes the weave to shorten, contracting the muscle - let me see if I can find a link... Ah, here we are:
McKibben Artificial Muscles
Notice the simple construction (hell, it is a construction article!) - some flexible tubing, braided sheathing, and a little simple work, and you can build these yourself!
Ok - now for the unique part (or, at least I think it is unique - I may be wrong, my idea may already be patented or something - I haven't checked - if you know, post here!):
These things use pumps, right? They need something to expand the bladder. Well, typically pneumatic or hydraulic pressure is used - which is all fine and well, except for an exoskeleton app, that power supply tends to be huge. So, let's shrink it!
Instead of generating pressure using a motor power ed compressor - why not generate it using an engine?! How, you may ask? Look at this:
Pulse Two - Performance of a Hydraulic Free Piston Engine
These engines have been around for a while - I have an old Popular Mechanics from 1950 that shows one on the front cover in the use of driving a large freight truck. Essentially, instead of using explosions to drive pistons that turn crankshafts and gears - the movement of the pistons is harnessed directly to pump a working fluid - in most cases hydraulic fluid, I would imagine air could be pumped as well.
Such a power plant could be built small and relatively light weight (I would say lighter in weight and as powerful as a backpack leaf blower engine). Lines could be ran from the engine to the air or hydraulic muscles at the joints.
Now, you may say - why not use regular hydraulic/pneumatic cylinders instead of these "muscles"? This seems to be Sarco's approach, as far as I can tell. Maybe, maybe not. Glad you asked. I wanted to present another power alternative...
Remember that engine - what are we doing: Exploding a fuel in a container causing it to expand greatly, producing power. That power is transmitted in some way to where it is needed - in conventional machines via gears and shafts, in our recently designed exoskeleton via hydraulic/pneumatic lines. But what if you used that exploding gas to drive the muscles? You could hook the lines directly to the combustion chamber, and route the gasses to the muscles - but think outside the box...
Run the fuel lines to the muscles - add an injector at one end, a spark plug at the other, and some kind of exhaust valve system. Make the muscle out of some braided titanium or something (the bladder was just there to keep the working fluid in one place - it isn't a needed device for these muscles - it is the braid that when it expands radially, it contracts laterally) to resist the heat of the explosions. Use a PWM format to "pulse" the explosions in the muscle to vary its "strength". Add some kind of heat dumping system to keep it from overheating.
At that point, the muscles ARE the power source, and the backpack contains control electronics and the fuel tank, etc - ignition coils and such could be built into the spark plug assembly, and the thing becomes a complete fuel/electric machine.
Does any of this sound "do-able"? Does it seem sound reasoning? Is anybody researching this direction? Would anybody be willing to give me a grant to try this out? Sarcos, want to hire me?
Seriously - other than the titanium braid, most of this could be easily fabricated in a home shop! Stick with steel braid and an external combustion chamber, and you could easily do this in a home shop! Maybe I SHOULD DO IT? What do you think? Hmmm...???
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
If that's all, then wouldn't it be pretty redundant when each augmented soldier can easily punch holes in walls - either with weaponry or with the augmented skeleton?
Basically the soldier becomes a tiny tank except that the soldier can't survive big shots. But as weapons become deadlier, being hard to target/hit is better than trying to survive a hit. Conventional tanks are far from being hard to shoot at.
Imagine being in a tank when you are attacked by a bunch of very fast moving soldiers with armour (NBC + small arms protection), weaponry (including antitank), advanced sensors (wideband radar) and communications. They'll be able to use all sorts of cover too.
Back in the middle 60s there was a big push to develop exoskeletons. Popular Science had a whole issue on the subject. There were tests of an "elephant" exoskeleton. Talk of Giant, 20 to 40 feet tall, exoskeletons. Pictures of centaur trucks.
In concept, none of this is new. What is news worthy is why the work done in the '60s failed and why the work done in the '90s and '00s is working. Fourtty years ago there were no cheap fast computers. There were no ultrastrong ultralight composite materials. Fourty years of technilogical advance was need to get from the first failed attempt to a where their is chance this will work
Stonewolf