Real-Life Iron Man Exoskeleton Gets a Slimmer, More Powerful Sequel

OMGGGG Been waiting for news on this sweet baby for years!

And Rex Jameson doesn't sound like a superhero...he sounds like the heir to J Jonah Jameson's misconstrued newspaper. lol

Thank god...we will have something to counter the shooting robot children when they grow up!

www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-09/video-using-new-learning-algorithm-archer-bot-learns-how-aim-and-shoot-bow-and-arrow

Then two years later they make it better and lighter and add armor plates and lasers...

Let the Spartan program commence!

How are they planning on keeping that suit powered up in the field? I'd hate to see the extension chord following Mr. Jameson ... - "Am I snagged again?! For the love of..!"

http://www.joesid.com - Where 3D meets Flash

@Tangsten

The suit is for heavy loading and lifting. You don't leave the base, you don't get off the ship. Plug it in to a board and just do your job.

Homenah homenah homenah

I don't have anything more constuctive to say I just want it.

TANGSTEN has very good point. All the articles I have seen on this minimize or fail to mention the hefty power cable. Even the photos are staged to keep the cord in the background to hide its connection. Too much Gee Whiz comparison to Iron Man lessens the appreciation of this scientific and engineering achievement.

Even if the suit stays at the base and does all the heavy lifting it's still going to require a second man to watch the operator's surroundings. The second man will have to "spot" that operator full-time... That's gonna be the most annoying job imaginable... "Hey watch your feet!...x1000" The chord may not seem like a big deal but I'm sure all of us had at least one experience with the vacuum cleaner's chord becoming entangled with something in the living room, perhaps knocking over a vase, or even yanked the chord out of the wall. Now imagine that vase was an artillery shell... These things will have to stay inside of a hangar and its chords will have to be attached to the ceiling - the range will be limited to a about 30-50ft diameter. That's only if you want more than one of these things walking around the same room.

http://www.joesid.com - Where 3D meets Flash

I love what 4l3X is saying BRING ON THE SUPER SOLDIERS!!!!

Well about the power cable, how about they add elements to the floor and soles of the suit to transfer energy, or they could drape cables on the ceiling and give the suits a tether to the cable. Or perhaps improvements in wireless energy will make it a non issue, either way, if you're building a suit worry about the suit, power can come later. Maybe someone will invent a nuclear battery or something.

@Domin8or

...that's the whole point of the suit, that the amount of equipment could double or triple and it wouldn't be noticeable to the soldier. Also, they've built an untethered version, it's not that big of an issue, it just doesn't last long. New innovations in battery tech could have batteries holding 10x more juice as they do now, so once that rolls around, and once they reduce the power consumption even more, an untethered version will be no problem. It just takes a bit of patience and imagination, people are so quick to throw something down because of a little easily-solvable problem.

heh. my uncle works for raytheon...

use a bunch of those lithium paper batteries encorporated into the suit, if one gets shot your HUD lets u know where the power's failing. Also even though robots can be programmed they have no sense of improvisation, hence spartan project! instead of covenant we'll be fighting our own technology.

@ mcronq

You read my mind. Have a wireless energy source somewhere nearby to power it, such as a tank, LAV, humvee....WHATEVER. Just make it work!

Now to make it portable... you see that large "cage" device in the back (you shouldnt, its not there), thats what'll hold all the juice to power the thing for an hour, so, almost 3000 lbs of pure lithium, so whilst you struggle to hold the thing up, you can preform numerous jobs hunched over... oh, right...

lol.
i was gonna say, remember reach, but i can see people all ready had the halo idea.

Even if the suit stays at the base and does all the heavy lifting it's still going to require a second man to watch the operator's surroundings. The second man will have to "spot" that operator full-time... That's gonna be the most annoying job imaginable... "Hey watch your feet!...x1000" The chord may not seem like a big deal but I'm sure all of us had at least one experience with the vacuum cleaner's chord becoming entangled with something in the living room, perhaps knocking over a vase, or even yanked the chord out of the wall. Now imagine that vase was an artillery shell... These things will have to stay inside of a hangar and its chords will have to be attached to the ceiling - the range will be limited to a about 30-50ft diameter. That's only if you want more than one of these things walking around the same room.

http://www.cirurgia-plastica.com/otoplastia/

The field has narrowed to just two vendors providing exoskeletons to the military: Raytheon and Lockheed Martin (via Berkeley Bionics).

The new XOS 2 is going to compete directly with the new Hulc 2 (or whatever they are going to call it.

Berkeley Bionics is holding a press conference on 10/7 to unveil their new exoskeleton (and website).

http://www:berkeleybionics.com/

What's all this about a power source?

Solar panels, duh. And even better if you're going to add armor plating for combat purposes- plenty of space for solar strips.

I AM REALY INTO THIS STUFF AND I REAL WANT TO KNOW HOW THE SUIT MAKES YOU STRONGER SO PLEASE CONTACT ME AT: SHMUELYSILVER@YAHOO.COM (BUT NO CAPALIZATION)