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US Army Furthers Development of Robotic Suits
An anonymous reader writes "The BBC reports on advancements in the US military's robotic exoskeleton program. It's being spearheaded by Sarcos, a research laboratory in Utah. The firm has designed the XOS exoskeleton for US Army use, a lightweight frame that gives the user greater strength and endurance. 'With the exoskeleton on and fully powered up, Rex can easily pull down weight of more than 90 kilos, more than he weighs. For the army the XOS could mean quicker supply lines, or fewer injuries when soldiers need to lift heavy weights or move objects around repeatedly. Initial models would be used as workhorses, on the logistics side. Later models, the army hopes, could go into combat, carrying heavier weapons, or even wounded colleagues.'"
I'll bludgeon you to death with my wounded comrade!
I want an advanced armored exoskeleton. Make it fly too. I can do without the repulors if I MUST, but please do give me a big flamethrower and a chaingun on my model. Maybe some shoulder mounted RPG's too?
Seriously, this is a good thing but I think some of the 'planned' uses are a bit optimistic. I'm more than willing to be surprised though.
:)
Anything with useful commercial life would need power like a forklift, and that is about as small as you can make a useful 'suit' for lifting that is self powered.
Who knows, maybe granny will walk again one day soon. What we do know is that she won't get to compete in the olympics with her new suit!
Won't somebody think of the illegal immigrants? This thing could put the day laborers out of work.
No car analogy yet... forklift was as close as I could get
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"Obligatory" in this case meaning "incorrect".
It's "Get away from her, you bitch!"
Promote proofreading. Don't mod up sloppy posts.
Why a suit, instead of an armed, semi-autonomous ROV? Why spend weight (and thus battery) protecting the squishy bits inside, when those bits can back home at an army base working eight hour shifts and going home to their families?
I realize that troops have to carry an ungodly amount of gear, but by the time all the technical challenges of a truly battle-ready suit are met, surely putting a person in it would be a waste.
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There was an article in this month's Popular Science about suits like this. If this kind of thing trips your trigger that article is worth a read.
I want an advanced armored exoskeleton. Make it fly too. I can do without the repulors if I MUST, but please do give me a big flamethrower and a chaingun on my model. Maybe some shoulder mounted RPG's too?
;-)
And here we have another person that will seem to drop off the face of the planet once Starcraft II ships. Please remember not to play for 48 hours without sleep while consuming only nachos and soda, we wouldn't want you to permanently drop off the face of the planet. OK, maybe not "we" but "somebody" out there would care.
this would go a long way in loading bombs or missiles on aircraft. I would imagine in a cramped environment it would be more agile then a forklift or whatever it is they use now. Also, it would be useful when doing stuff like changing a truck tire. Those things are heavy.
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
The book, not the campy movie, introduces these power suits. (I'm guessing the movie drops this much in the same way Spiderman is always pulling off his mask- the suit hides the humanity of the characters.)
They just got frustrated with not being in charge of Gundam.
"I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
Lifting stuff, we have forklifts for that. Much simpler and cheaper.
Really, you've seen many forklifts in the field unloading Hueys or Blackhawks, or unpacking a palette from a Chinook or Hercules?
Heavy weapons? Is the US military's problem really a lack of firepower? I seriously doubt it.
OK, you obviously never saw the guy carrying the M60 and its ammo.
Lifting stuff, we have forklifts for that. Much simpler and cheaper.
But, but, that only works if you stack the stuff on a pallet first! How does the heavy stuff get on the pallet, huh? That's right, guy in power armor.
Heavy weapons? Is the US military's problem really a lack of firepower? I seriously doubt it. Maybe there is a lack of ethics and diplomacy but they can bounce corpses and ashes pretty high already.
They're sick of "Army of One" being a marketing slogan about how they teach you personal strength and confidence and such. Oh, there's widespread clashes between militias and police in Basra? Send in Private Pile in his Army Battle Suit!
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We rely on it as a force multiplier, yes. That's different than having your force totally immobilized. There will always be a place for individual soldiers in the field, at least until when and if we get 'real' AI. Even then, do you want non-human intelligences controlling weapon's platforms anymore than they already do (AEGIS for one). Given that fact it makes perfect sense to augment the individual soldier's physical abilities and level of protection.
Here's that ages-old question: Where are you going to be able to safely and efficiently operate a powered suit without sinking up to your waist in muck, tipping over due to unstable or uneven terrain, and be able to lift a working payload at the same time.
'Suits have this problem called weight distribution. Their footprints are about on par with a small car overloaded. When try to move loads on poor terrain, you'll wind up either getting dug out or being picked back up because the soil could not hold you up. Tracks that can handle twice their load can dance on that kind of terrain, even BobCats with tracks can handle soft sands that would try to swallow an average joes' foot.
I can see powersuits working on prepared grounds, Asphalt, cement concrete, macadam with treated substrates, but not thrown into a active combat situation where they would have to slog through mud or soft soils.
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
I suspect that these kind of things have a less obvious purpose - as marketing tools to justify military spending.
Take NASA, for instance, people didn't mind huge amounts being spent on it when there was something exciting and heroic to see - such as landing on the moon. As soon as the job became routine and much more practical, no one was interested and they got their funding cut.
If the military regularly rolls out these futuristic and legitimately expensive pieces of kit - then the public interest is maintained and so is the funding.
It also forces (allows) foreign powers to (happily) up their game and raise the stakes further - giving further justification for more spending.
Genesis 1:32 And God typed
Ignoring the fact that the kilogram is a measure of mass, not force, this sentence still makes no sense. I can "pull down" double my weight with my little finger. Pulling it UP would be hard.
;)
Translation: "I've never seen the inside of a gym before."
It's okay, this is an understanding crowd for such things.
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There's no foot replacement for good hands (the reverse is true as well). Mountain goats are fantastic climbers, but monkeys and men are better. Two legs/feet and two hands is a better fit for extreme maneuverability in climbing and traversing rough terrain. I've done a lot of climbing and having hands is just nifty... The only reason it isn't used yet mechanically is that no one has built a good enough model. That opposable thumb idea caught on a long time ago because it "just works". And being able to travel on two points on less rough ground frees up the other two points to "do stuff" like tote things, swing a weapon, whatever.
It's prequel was pretty good, too. But yeah, the sequels kind of blow.
The right to bare Robot arms shall not be infringed!
I wanted to tag it getawayfromheryoubitch, but my funny tagging efforts only ever go for naught. Alas...