Human Exoskeletons Getting Closer 198
ColdWetDog writes "It's not Sigourney Weaver tossing aliens about, but The Register has an interesting blurb about a real human-capable exoskeleton that looks pretty cool (Lockheed-Martin press release). Runs for three hours at 3 mph on internal batteries; max speed is 7 mph. Of course, no price is listed but I suppose if you have to ask you can't afford it. Team this up with a Big Dog and you've got the ultimate high-tech cross-country team. Bring your own batteries. Or just wait for your jetpack to arrive."
Speed (Score:4, Informative)
Max speed is 10 not 7.
Looks like there has finally been progress. (Score:5, Informative)
The decision to do away with arms, for now, was probably a good one. One can still carry heavy loads, which is the main point.
Re:Looks like there has finally been progress. (Score:5, Informative)
Honda Walking Assist (Score:5, Informative)
The Honda Walking Assist device has a rather unique and elegant design:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2191712/honda_walking_assist/ [metacafe.com]
Re:Looks like there has finally been progress. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Looks like there has finally been progress. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Looks like there has finally been progress. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Yeah but the boot sequence is too complex. (Score:2, Informative)
Offtopic? Someone never watched Centurions...
Re:Looks like there has finally been progress. (Score:1, Informative)
The suit in Aliens was manhandled from the inside by a large weightlifter who was 'puppeted' around by Weaver. (in the same way you'd give a ride to a young child standing on your feet).
It was made from vacuum formed plastic and required frequent retouching by the prop guys to keep it looking 'real'.
As I recall (this is all from the 'making of' part of the Aliens DVD) it was so unstable there was also a tether from the top to keep it upright.
Re:LM all all the freedom fighters need is... (Score:1, Informative)
The reason it's easy to kill tanks/Humvees with mines is that you can just put your mines on roads, which big vehicles are mostly restricted to. A team of soldiers in powered armor has more options, like walking off road, or taking side streets. Will you start mining alleyways? Goat paths?
Re:Looks like there has finally been progress. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Speed (Score:2, Informative)
*sigh* Iternet ! build to be bomb proof... (Score:3, Informative)
The internet itself exists because the US military was seeking a way to maintain communications in the event that a major city was destroyed with an atomic bomb, causing a disruption in telephone communications.
Why, oh why do people keep trotting out this tired old myth?
The ARPANet wasn't created to survive a nuclear holocaust. Hey geniuses, it used common (though pricey and high speed) telco circuits - the same as carried telephone communications. They weren't hardened or anything like that. Explain to me how they'd stay put when everything else went kablooie?
The original purpose of the ARPANet was to allow resource sharing between research centers with computing resources that were being funded by and/or involved in defense level research. Even after the first dozen-odd IMPs (routers of their day, and amazingly only refrigerator sized, compared to the behemoths that they interconnected), they weren't even hardened.
Ironically, it would be over 20 years from the inception of the ARPANet that there would be a sufficiently large number of nodes and more imporantly links to give the Internet the level of robustness that might give it a reasonable chance of surviving an all out nuclear attack, the kind that people continually champion as its original raison d'être.
Anyone who's interested in learning more should really read the excellent book, _Where Wizards Stay Up Late_.