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."
Yeah but the boot sequence is too complex. (Score:5, Funny)
Seems you have to stand spread-eagle and shout "Power Extreme" to start it up :(
GrpA
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Offtopic? Someone never watched Centurions...
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I don't care if I get modded offtopic; It needed to be said.
Speed (Score:4, Informative)
Max speed is 10 not 7.
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Max speed is 10 not 7.
Until they make one that goes up to 11 I'm not interested.
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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)
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Except the suit from Aliens didn't actually work, it was just a big fiberglass structure suspended from a crane, with the body suspended the rest was light enough that it could be moved around just with muscle power.
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see the suit worn by Ripley in the movie Aliens... that is a real machine
Citation required.
Real Machine. (Score:2)
Re:Looks like there has finally been progress. (Score:5, Interesting)
Companies have been making exoskeletons ever since the "Hardiman" of the 1960...
As with so many innovations, Heinlein came up with it almost first -- Kimball Kinneson greased Helmuth in one in Smith's Galactic Patrol, but Heinlein's powered suit was more accurate and interesting. Mobile Infantry, powered suits. Read "Starship Troopers". The book, not the fun-but-not-faithful movie.
Although the shower scene was very cool...;)
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Okay, no. Heinlein is a great author (at least in my opinion) but he did not come up with powered armor for soldiers first. That officially belongs to E.E. Smith's Lensman [wikipedia.org] series. That's right, over a decade before Starship Troopers.
If you like space operas and haven't read Lensman get yourself a copy. You won't regret it.
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If you carefully re-read the post, you'll notice the qualifier "almost". I missed it too, so don't feel too bad. I was wondering, in light of your post, how someone who knew the name Kimball Kennison, and knew of the Galactic Patrol, would not have known that they predated Starship Troopers. So I re-read
Re-printing? (Score:2)
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Just to nail it down, I started reading E.E.Smith when I was about ten, about the same time I started reading Heinlein. I've worn out at least seven full sets of the paperbacks, and still live in hope that some day I will develop a "precisionist-grade mind".
Thank you for noticing the qualifier.
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> The book, not the fun-but-not-faithful movie.
Starship Troopers is on the Navy reading list [militarypr...glists.com] in the junior enlisted section. Look around and you'll see Ender's Game there too...
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Starship Troopers was one of the reasons I joined the military. Really imprinted that civic duty thing. Books are dangerous. Especially on young minds. They should all be banned and replaced with video games.
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Never read that one. Once I got to basic, I realized I never needed to read again.
'Til the internet came along. It sucks you in with porn and then turns you on to blogs. Insidious.
Cool!
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Starship Troopers 1 was a cruel joke; ST3 was a farce of epic proportions. Surprisingly, they made Starship Troopers 3. Even more surprisingly, it's a half-decent movie, has Mobile Infantry (of a guise) and I found myself coming away entertained.
And Starship Troopers is one of my favorite books, at that.
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HEV? PCV? (Score:2)
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No, this reminds me more of the leg braces worn by Chell in the Portal game, but only in that it will take the strain away from the user's legs in normal motion. I doubt it would respond well to jumping from great heights.
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:Honda Walking Assist (Score:5, Funny)
The Honda Walking Assist device has a rather unique and elegant design:
Unique, sure.. but elegant? It looks like that guy has a robot stuck up his ass.
-metric
Re:Honda Walking Assist (Score:5, Funny)
a walkin assist in your crotch or u happy to c me? (Score:2)
unique and elegant design:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2191712/honda_walking_assist/ [metacafe.com]
You're half right.
Why America sucks (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't hate America, I love it. I wish only the best things for this country.
But I hate articles like this, and I hate the truly American values it reveals.
Why is it that when Americans think of powered exoskeletons, the first thing they think of is soldiers? It's really sad that militaristic thinking has pervaded almost every facet of our society.
Compare that to Japan's take on exoskeletons [newscientist.com]. Over there, they think of how these things can be used in day-to-day activities to help people. It's a far cry from a fat-ass soldier lugging around a giant backpack and a gun.
I can only hope that the wisdom of the American people that was so on display when Obama was elected will bring an end to our fascination and worship of our military.
Re:Why America sucks (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't hate America, I love it. I wish only the best things for this country.
But I hate articles like this, and I hate the truly American values it reveals.
Why is it that when Americans think of powered exoskeletons, the first thing they think of is soldiers?
War and military industry just tend to do that: invent things to help you win the battles easier. It's always been like that.
War (even the one now in Iraq) is a quite good accelerator for military industry research and the industry creates a variety of products during a war. The bigger the war the bigger the influence on technology.
Even though it's bad that the things are developed for the military, the research eventually helps normal people: when the war ends, the military companies start selling licenses for the products or continue researching to create a product for consumer markets.
War so far has been a huge boost in techonology, if you think inventions like nuclear power, radar, V2 missiles, which later on lead to the Saturn V, medical breakthroughs (especially in first aid) etc.
Impact of the war on technology is just something you just can't deny.
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Wasn't the Red Cross and organized trauma care developed in response to the Civil War (during the war, actually)? Same thing for precision manufacturing (canon/gun barrels), transportation enhancements, etc.
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He wasn't saying the USA military industry invented all those things, just that war was the catalyst for inventing them, no matter where they came from. I'm not even going to get into the other stuff you mention. They have nothing to do with how war drives engineering forward - they are just nonsensical arguments for the sake for arguing.
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Well going by historical evidence it is a good way to drive innovation, I didn't say that it was my preferred method of advancement though ;) I doubt the rate of failed military projects will be that much higher than the average rate of failed commercial projects..
Re:Why America sucks (Score:5, Interesting)
Though a tremendous portion of the American annual budget goes toward the Military-Industrial Complex, a tremendous amount also goes toward initiatives such as DARPA, which helps fund more applied research than almost anyone, and in support countless universities and research centers. We have commercial air travel today because the US military helped jump start the commercial aviation sector before World War 2 (The Luftwaffe alone had more planes the all the Allies combined, and we knew we'd need private commercial help manufacturing aircraft in those quantities). 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. We have atomic energy because of the Manhattan Project, we have mass-produced Penicillin because of World War 2, along with radar, jet propulsion, and the birth of rocketry. Even going back to the Revolutionary War, the US government invested heavily in mechanized manufacturing and research into interchangeable parts for firearms.
The fact is that the military is often willing to make investments into technologies that no one else is willing to even look at. Our investments in war have done terrible things. The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, countless deaths in every war we've been in, etc. But many of these wars and conflicts would have taken place without the technology, and without the investments we've made into the military. The fact is that technology, in particular engineering, advances by leaps and bounds when war is at it's heels. Though we should never forget the cost at which it comes, it's important to realize that technology often has ripple effects and sometimes, like the internet, it becomes something wholly different than what was intended.
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Are you sure about that?
German aircraft production, all types, 1941: 11,776
Russian aircraft production, all types, 1941: 15,735
(source: Russia's War, Richard Overly, page 155)
If you *really* want, I'll see if I can find the figures for 1939 - I've got the figures in at least one of my books here, somewhere - but it might take hours to find it, and to
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German aircraft production, all types, 1939: 8,295
USSR aircraft production, all types, 1939: 10,382
UK aircraft production, all types, 1939: 7,940
German aircraft production, all types, 1940: 10,247
USSR aircraft production, all types, 1940: 10,565
UK aircraft production, all types, 1940: 15,049
(source: Richard Overly,Why the allies won (1996), page 331)
Of course the USSR wasn't at war with Germany in 1939-1941 and an enormous part of the USSR planes where destroyed in the initial phase of the German in
Re:Why Parent Sucks (Score:5, Interesting)
"a tremendous portion of the American annual budget goes toward the Military-Industrial Complex"
Ah yes, I know, this is slashdot, and I'm going to get modded troll/flaimbait, but just for your edification, our Federal government was created with a very limited amount of powers in mind, most of which were focused DIRECTLY at military affairs. I'm not sure why people whine and complain that the government spends tons of cash on defense but not on XYZ, when its the job of the government to spend money on defense.
For a list of enumerated powers (not the squishy interpreted ones), check out:
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#A1Sec8 [usconstitution.net]
I'm glad to see the government spend money on things it is SUPPOSE to... now if it would just cut out the shit that its not (like social security, Medicare, ponies, butterflies, and good will towards men).
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If the powers of the government are not those listed in the constitution, then what are the powers? Can they do literally anything they (the government currently in power) want to do?
Yes, things have changed in a few hundred years. That's why the constitution can be amended. You know, someone proposes an amendment, we talk about it, people vote on it, etc. You can't just say 'things are different' and then ignore it because then there is no basis for discussion of what the government can or should do.
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That's why the Constitution provides for amendments. We've ratified 27 of them over the past 220+ years. You don't just start ignoring the parts you find inconvenient, as Democrats (with their blather of a "living Constitution") are wont to do; that way lies madness (or, more specifically, lawlessness). If it's not getting the job done, you propose
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I'm glad to see the government spend money on things it is SUPPOSE to... now if it would just cut out the shit that its not (like social security, Medicare, ponies, butterflies, and good will towards men).
I think you mean, if it would just cut out the shit that its not, like harassing citizens, taking away our basic freedoms, incarcerating people for "crimes" which have no victim, legislating morality...
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*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
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I like to think it began with our deification of paramilitary groups like the police and firefighters after 9/11. Then with the rising body count in Iraq, people just became enamored with the military and military spending. Now, when new technology comes along, it isn't "wow, what can we do with this?", rather it is "wow, how can this help our troops?"
I hate to break it to you, but the military industrial complex predates 9/11 by a substantial amount of time.
You do have something of a point concerning the near-deification of police and firefighters following 9/11. It has become more than a little excessive. Firemen do deserve a lot of praise. Job or not, it takes some courage to run into a building like that to help people, but the praise has become rather over the top.
But... paramilitary? Where did that come from? I know several firemen, all very n
Exoskeletons will be of little value to soldiers (Score:3, Insightful)
The power requirements mean it will have to dissipate huge amounts of heat, generate lots of noise which means it'll essentially be carrying a "shoot me!" sign and individuals without any form of body power assist can already kill tanks, bring down helicopter gunships etc.
As a form of fork lift I can see some advantages in logistics, but not on the sharp end of a military.
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Some folks at the dull end love this because they see how much more a solider can carry. There's a practical limit of around 50 pounds of gear a solider can take on their person. What that gear is suppose to be and really is can vary. There's some great stories about differing philosophies to armor plate inserts, not only between the Brass and the guys in the field but bet
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The power requirements mean it will have to dissipate huge amounts of heat, generate lots of noise which means it'll essentially be carrying a "shoot me!" sign
And currently human soldiers generate no heat, and are completely silent. </sarcasm>
I get your point, but I don't think this would make significant difference to the visibility of a soldier. Simply not using it on the front lines, where mobility and stealth might be needed would negate your point. If it's for carrying heavy loads then it's probably more likely to be used behind the front lines, for support and simply carrying stuff that might otherwise have required two men, or a vehicle.
Re:Exoskeletons will be of little value to soldier (Score:2)
After the first rocket, artillery round, mortar shell or bomb go off you won't have to worry about the enemy hearing you at all. Even training with earplugs in, your ears are ringing after a live-fire exercise and that's with the shells detonating at a "safe" distance, not right on top of you.
As for heat - a human already shows up pretty well in infrared - especially at night since the ground is cool.
Sure, an unassisted human can carry a variety of weapons that can damage armor or helicopters. However, do
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As a past aero-medevac tech (Fighting Unicorns [mablehome.com]!), anything to help with all the lugging stuff about would be a great help. Add in the fact that we were anywhere from 5-10 miles back from the front line, wouldn't be a lot of issues with another machine running.
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Here is the trick, if you took the pure peace route and had such a suit made only for firefighters, police and other high hazard workers, you would only produce less than a 10th of the number of suits you would have made for the military and have had a suit that cost 10 time as much to make.
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Dude, the sad truth is that ALL TECHNOLOGIES GO THROUGH THE ARMED FORCES FIRST, before coming mainstream to the population (that is of course useful inventions, not just any idea). They have the budget to make it commensurable, then once in production, the owners can take it to the public
(usually 2 or 3 years down the road) and end up making it main stream. Like cell phone jammers, now even you and I can buy one, to jam those pesky cell phones from work to avoid employees using their cell phones.
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This might have something to do with Japan relying on the Americans to keep those naughty Chinese from walking all over them. They have that luxury because the Americans pay for it.
Gerry
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Development takes money (Score:2)
Developing things like this is expensive. There is one source of money which is available for speculative projects with no immediate application. Government projects. The military(especially in the US) being one of the biggest spenders on this type of stuff, is a prime source. Therefore military applications should be the first thing considered.
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I didn't RTFA, and the first thing I thought about was using a powered exoskeleton for rehabilitation and healthy excercise for disabled persons while providing them with the necessary mobility to be functional and even productive in society.
Use this article as an object lesson in meta-reading and learn what many conservatives have learned over the years: If you take the sentiments expressed by journalists as the sum total of American values you will miss the real landscape of American opinion. Also, gener
be real: just follow the money (Score:2)
Why is it that when Americans think of powered exoskeletons, the first thing they think of is soldiers?
He asked on the evolved version of a DARPA funded network.
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*groan*
It's not America that sucks, it's willful ignorance that sucks.
It's about where the money comes from. In Japan they have gigatons of old people and no young people to take care of them. So for them, that's an area where they need tech. If the Japanese had to rely on themselves for defense, they would have different priorities. As it is, they rely on US. We are their military. China knows that one boot on Japan would mean B-52s over Beijing. We in a very real way are the military of all of Weste
Re:Why America sucks (Score:4, Insightful)
No, I'm suggesting that in a time where much of the country has been stirred into anti-immigrant sentiment, anti-intellectual sentiment, an all or nothing mindset, a with us or against mindset, and a government with policies to match, that people were able to elect someone who speaks clearly in full sentences instead of jingos and soundbites, who has a background living in many different parts of this great country and experiences exceeding that of most Americans, and who is progressive thinking, inclusionist, and open-minded.
Maybe you think he's special because he's black. I don't know what that says about you. You can figure that out yourself.
But it says a lot about the American people at that one brief moment in time to have chosen someone so at odds with the general zeitgeist. I'm not talking about Obama as President here. I'm talking about the opportunity to change and grow as Americans. The article and video showing off this technology as a military tool leaves me less hopeful.
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throwing the question back at me is high school debating tactics. but fyi, i don't care either way, i'm not american. take it from someone removed from your countries politics and hype - he hasn't really changed how your country is percieved around the world. it's going to take a lot more than a new figure head to change that.
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Hate to burst your bubble, but much of America only cares about the opinion of nations and people we respect.
That's a shorter list than you might think.
If I think your government and people are soft, effette, and shirk from the duty of free men everywhere, I'm not going to be particularly interested in what you think of me and my country.
This is especially true if I kn
Re:Why America sucks (Score:4, Insightful)
And lay off the political shit, everyone's had enough of Obama the Chosen. Tell us how special he is after 3 years of service to the country, thanks.
Re:Why America sucks (Score:4, Funny)
I know you are BadAnalogyGuy, but I'll give this a try.
What you are trying to say is that America was used to Paris Hilton, and then at one brief moment in time chose to elect Angelina Jolie.
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And in America it will be only obese people, just like they're the only one with little motorized carts. In the rest of the world requiring some type of machine just to 'walk' around would make people ashamed and commit seppuku.
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That's why no power armor is complete without the prerequisite chainsaw sword.
Energy density (Score:5, Insightful)
Projects like this are always limited by a single factor: energy density.
Loads of heavy batteries that only seem to last an hour or so, or loud, smelly, fault-prone ICEs are par for the course. See, millions of years of evolution have resulted in bodies that are surprisingly efficient in a wide variety of circumstances and pack loads of energy into a very little weight. When your body truly runs out of energy in sustained exhaustion, it can even burn its own motor (muscle tissue) for a last bit of energy!
The problems are many and severe. It will be a while before exoskeletons are worth much.
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Re:Energy density (Score:5, Funny)
Perhaps some sort of Meat creature we could ride into battle that could carry our armored bodies and heavy weapons?
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They're not using exoskeletons to replace vehicles. They want them for scenarios where you need foot soldiers, and there are many such scenarios.
Right tool for the job and all that. Good luck going 80mph through a forest/jungle or even a dense concrete jungle.
If I were a soldier, I'd rather be in places where the aircraft and tanks can't easily blow me away. And in those places it's typically hard to travel at 80mph.
What would be useful is some sort of augmentation that would allow soldiers to operate in "s
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So an exoskeleton or vehicle has a higher bar for acceptance.
For instance, even if the human body is more inefficient you're still going to have to supply food for for it.
The other thing is the human body also self repairs given decent food and rest, and so if you factor in the logistics and supplies required to maintain vehicles in the field, the human body isn't that bad
BTW just the other day I was looking a
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So batteries, ammo, body armor etc are "extra options" which the body may or may not grumble about.
Must resist (Score:5, Funny)
The user can hump 200lb with relative ease while marching in a HULC
So...many...jokes...
Why so shortsighted? (Score:5, Interesting)
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I suppose that you also want to view supernova explosions with something other than the ridiculous gelatinous orbs in your skull.
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Maybe it has something to do with the fact that xrays and gamma rays, in sufficient quanity, kill us.
So while being able to see them might be cool... it is doubtful that you would live long enough to pass along the trait to your kids (who would be oddly shaped assuming they managed to be born).
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"I want this suit!"
No, what you want are magical flying ponies.
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No thank you (Score:3, Funny)
I'm perfectly happy with my endoskeleton as it is thank you!!
Oh i can have both! didn't RTFA.
Stephen Hawking has had one for years (Score:2)
...according to the place where I get my news [theonion.com].
Imagine a platoon of Marines ... (Score:2)
Armour of the Adeptus Astartes has begun. (Score:2)
The logical conclusion would be to add 200lbs of armor plating to the soldier. Then they would upgrade it to 400lbs, and add more plating. Until they're finally wearing nuclear powered backpacks powering a suit that weighs close to 1000lbs and is able to resist nearly every type of hit while being able to wield ordinance that are typically mounted on top of jeeps and oth
Translation (Score:2)
Runs for three hours at 3 mph (5 Km/h) on internal batteries; max speed is 7 mph (11 Km/h).
Cool (Score:2)
M.A.N.T.I.S. (Score:2)
What, no references to the Mechanically Automated NeuroTransmitter Interactive System?
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I didn't really notice the exoskeletons in Exosquad. I paid more attention to the plight of the Neo-Sapiens. I also wasn't much of a toy collector at the time.
"Human Exoskeletons Getting Closer" (Score:2)
I had to quote the title to make the response more obviously from the Epistles of Stooge:
"Slo-o-o-owly they turned.
Step by step.
Inch by inch...."
Re:Why not just put wheels on the backpack? (Score:5, Funny)
Why not just put wheels on the backpack? Then you could pull it at ground level no back problems, saves bazillions of dollars.
I can see the product slogan: Real American soldiers don't climb stairs—they level the building.
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Then you get some of the powered armor team, the maintenance contractors (high value targets), the service equipment (expensive), the spares and the big vehicles.