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IBM Files Patent For Bullet-Dodging Bionic Armor

An anonymous reader writes with news that IBM has filed a patent for "Bionic body armor" that would protect a wearer from long-range gunfire by detecting the incoming bullets and administering small shocks to the appropriate muscles required for moving out of the way. Quoting the patent: "When a marksman (such as a sniper) is attempting to fire a projectile from a firearm, the marksman typically prefers to be as far away from the target as possible, thus giving him or her a head start for the escape after the firing. As an example, the longest reported sniper hit was from a distance of about 2500 meters, resulting in a time of flight of about 4 seconds for the projectile/bullet. Had the target been aware of the inbound projectile, avoiding it by simply walking away would have been possible." After detecting the projectile, the armor would calculate the trajectory and "stimulate the target to move in a predefined manner ... sufficient to avoid any contact with the approaching projectile."

4 of 379 comments (clear)

  1. Sign me up! by WiiVault · · Score: 5, Funny

    I get so much shit thrown at me at the daycare everyday I could really use this.

  2. Re:Mechanism of detection? by aliquis · · Score: 5, Funny

    Throw a handful of gravel against a group of military personel and watch the fun :D

  3. Re:Stimulate to move... by Z00L00K · · Score: 5, Funny

    New goal for terrorists - trigger the response in the armor making the wearer look weird and become exhausted.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
  4. Re:Stimulate to move... by farmerpoe · · Score: 5, Funny

    jump to the left ... ooops!

    and then a step to the right!