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"Ultimately intended to help people like soldiers or firefighters carry heavy loads for long distances, these boots are made for marching.
"The design of this exoskeleton really benefits from human intellect and the strength of the machine," says Homayoon Kazerooni, who directs the Robotics and Human Engineering Laboratory at the University of California-Berkeley.
The exoskeleton consists of a pair of mechanical metal leg braces that include a power unit and a backpack-like frame. The braces are attached to a modified pair of Army boots and are also connected, although less rigidly, to the user's legs.
More than 40 sensors and hydraulic mechanisms function like a human nervous system, constantly calculating how to distribute the weight being borne and create a minimal load for the wearer.
"There is no joystick, no keyboard, no push button to drive the device," says Kazerooni, a professor of mechanical engineering. "The pilot becomes an integral part of the exoskeleton."
In lab experiments, says Kazerooni, testers have walked around in the 100-pound exoskeleton plus a 70-pound backpack and felt as if they were carrying just five pounds.
"The exoskeleton is not going to magically transform people into killing machines," says Kazerooni, known to his students as Professor Kaz. "They're really good, it turns out, at enabling firefighters, soldiers, post-disaster rescue crews to carry heavy loads over great distances for hours."
Having trekked many miles carrying a heavy rucksack, this invention could obviously extend that range many times, and I am sure it could quicken the pace as well.
I heard about those a long time ago, didn’t think they would still be making them. Still, a step closer to power armor is a step forward indeed.
iohkus wrote:won't that like make soldiers dependant on that type of shit when they start using it? hmm. argh, kewl i guess if you're gonna walk up a mountain
Yes, it would. You could always enforce physical standards during training. With this exoskeleton though, you could greatly increase the speed and distance light infantry would be able to travel, and more importantly get where they're going with far less fatigue [while also being able to carry even more equipment]. Anyway, this shit is probably a decade or two away from ever being fielded in a reliable manner in a tough environment.
Well, Powerarmor would also probably look stupid if you took away the high tech ceramic-polymer casing. Think of this as lower-body powerarmor, without the protective factor.
The protective factor will most likely kick in at some point, though. If this exoskeleton helps you to carry quite heavy loads, what would a few ceramic-layers and kevlar-plates matter on top of that?
How would you? Unless you were carrying something heavy and tripped and it hit your body, I don't see why you'd shatter if you weren't expecting a step or something.
