Military Exoskeleton

[Yenny]

Pretty cool concept being develope and test for civilian and military use. It allow people to carry heavy load without any restriction movement or being tired. Also allow those that are paralyzed to walk again.

Look up "Human Exoskeleton" on youtube, since I don't think I can post the link=/ rule #17 ya?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdK2y3lphmE

[texasmom]

Game over man! Game over!


Cool idea. You should post a link so we can read about it... for those of us who are too lazy to look it up ourselves...

[Cthulhu]

Game over man! Game over!

Cool idea. You should post a link so we can read about it... for those of us who are too lazy to look it up ourselves...

Where's the DirecTV dish?


This will see battlefield deployment much sooner than any exoskeletons.

http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog
(The stablilty algorithms on this thing are amazing )

[Hornet33]

A robot pack mule?????  Too bad it's so loud, never going to sneak up on anyone with it.

[Yenny]

Sneak up?  , why would you need to sneak up onto someone unless you are doing Spec-ops. Carry a heavy load get really tiring after a bit. If the troops get that worked out just from movement to contact, it effect their ability to fight in the long run. Beside weight restriction make light infantry really vulnerable because they just couldn't carry the heavy stuff. With these exoskeleton, I think they would be a lot more effective. Being able to move quickly while carrying a heavy load.

[Cthulhu]

A robot pack mule?????  Too bad it's so loud, never going to sneak up on anyone with it.

That's a development model. Expect later models to be electric. The real achievement is the stability system. You ever seen an autonomous system cross terrain like that? It weighs 75 lbs, but carries 340 lbs. Would you rather hump your own stuff, or let this thing do it for you?

[Joker]

That's really interesting.
That technology could be put to use to do amazing things to help those with disabilities.
Can't wait to see what they do with it.

   Joker

[Reschke]

The BigDog video is pretty cool. I liked seeing that it apparently dealt with the sudden shift in balance easily.

[Cthulhu]

The BigDog video is pretty cool. I liked seeing that it apparently dealt with the sudden shift in balance easily.

Exactly. Watching that thing cope with the ice or being kicked sideways is absolutely amazing. We take for granted the things that we and animals can do, until we try to construct a machine to do the same thing. Only then do you fully appreciate what's involved.

The reason I posted Big Dog is that these two technologies, exoskeletons & bipedal (or quadrupedal) robotics, compliment each other nicely. Future exoskeleton designs will almost certainly have their own sensors and stability/motion enhancement systems borrowed from the robotics world.

[Xargos]

Just think of what firemen and other rescue teams could do with something like that.

[Gunslinger]

I don't think we're close to using something like that in combat operations (maybe 15 years?) however, for many applications that would be great in rear echlon areas.  I can think of a million uses for something like that in loading trucks, setting up camps off loading cargo ect.  Were something took 15 to 20 troops to accomplish before now would take 3-5. 

Just a couple of troops could offload an entire convoy without the use of a forklift (think logistics) in a shorter time with less use of manpower and materials.

Of course a smaller man portable version would have endless applications to combat operations when it comes to hauling gear or kicking in doors.  Car blocking a road.....no problem!