First Military Exoskeleton Reaches Prototype

JonathanGCohen writes "The U.S. Military has created the first ever prototype for an exoskeleton to be worn by soldiers capable of making its 100 pound weight and a 70 pound supply package feel like five pounds." From the article: "Bleex 1 consists of a pair of hydraulically powered leg braces, more than 40 electronic sensors, a control computer, and an internal-combustion engine providing power from an attached backpack. The plastic and carbon-fiber braces are affixed rigidly to the soldier through a customized pair of standard Army boots, with more compliant and giving connections at the chest and waist. These looser connections prevent blisters and abrasions."

Comments

old news

[Anonymous Coward]

I am fairly sure the machine design aritcal that your link references is several months old.

Here is another link:

http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/bleex.htm

Boom!

[Anonymous Coward]

TFA says, and I quote "Carrying a quart of military standard JP-4 gas". Now as a member of the US military, I will not wear this. JP-4 has a very low flash point and is very unstable, not to mention it is a JET FUEL, one spark and you would be toasted. A better alternative would be JP-8, which while still jet fuel, you can throw a match into and nothing will happen since it's flash point is extremely high. Either way I personally don't want to have a quart of jet fuel on me the next time I go to the desert...just sounds like bad news to me.

Re:Boom!

[Dun Malg]

JP-4 has a very low flash point and is very unstable, not to mention it is a JET FUEL, one spark and you would be toasted.

There's nothing exceptionally volatile about "JET FUEL". Jet fuel is less reactive than avgas. JP-4 is 50-60% gasoline and the rest kerosene. Sure, JP-8 would be less volatile, but come on, do you feel exceptional trepidation when you mow your lawn? The gas in your lawn mower is more volatile than JP-4.

Article

[evoltap]

I think this is the link we want http://machinedesign.com/asp/viewSelectedArticle.a sp?strArticleId=59627&strSite=MDSite&catId=2

Re:Bleex 2

[OverlordQ]

Average walking speed is around 3mph for women and 3.5mph for males.

Re:Tin soliders...

[imsabbel]

you would be surprised how overblown the "dangers of emp" really are for hardened equipment.

Hint: if this thing is for battlefield use, it wont have exposed cables/sockets. The whole exteriour will be a groundplane.
Any EMP strong enough to kill it would electrocute you via your tooth cavity filling, too.

(emps work well vs cities, not military units. just like biological/chemical weapons...)

Japanese version

[vectorian798]

As you might recall, the Japanese beat Professor Kaz's team to it, although the application the Japanese one is aimed at is different:
The Sexy Japanese Version

BTW isn't having a gas engine bad because of the noise it might make?

Re:Are hydraulic exoskeletons the only way?

[susano_otter]

You're kidding, right?

The only force coming out of the springs would be the force you used to compress them. So instead of using that force to just carry the damn load directly, you're using that force to compress the springs to carry the load. Add to that the force needed to carry the springs themselves, and the force lost through entropy, and you've got the stupidest powered exoskeleton idea I've heard all day.

Re:If they only up-armored it

[B3ryllium]

A term has already been coined for this kind of armored exoskeleton system:

MechWarrior.

Re:15 minutes?

[ffflala]

To nitpick: if you're referring to the Wright Brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, it was around 90 seconds long.

Videos

[Rebelgecko]

Berkely has some interesting videos of the exoskeleton in use
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

How old is this story?

[Captain Entendre]

The article sounds an awful lot like it was lifted from this press release, dated March '04.

TFA is DoS'ed, so I have to ask... have there been new developments in the last couple years, or is this just a dupe from two years ago?