By: Dr. Tom Macon, Ph. D.
I trust that you have watched the movie Alien. One of the notable scenes is where the character “Ellen Ripley”, played by Sigourney Weaver, climbs into a robotic power-walker exoskeleton and subdues the Alien. With the added strength provided by the suit, she is able to toss the creature out of the bay doors of the spaceship. Way cool. If you haven’t purchased a robotic exoskeleton, I highly recommend that you do.
Now back to reality. A couple of years ago, the U.S. Army revealed its XOS Exoskeleton, which weighs195lbs, and is made by defense systems firm Raytheon. You might see XOS used in military operations within the next five years. XOS Exoskeleton gives the wearer 17 times the strength of a normal human being. Holy crap Ripley!
The XOS Exoskeleton works by pumping warmed hydraulic fluid through the metal frame which 'takes over' the weight from the human body.
Fraser Smith, vice president of operations for Raytheon-Sarcos, said: ‘Rather than using machinery to pick up, haul and place materials, having the human element involved can make work more precise and cut down on time to bring in cranes or other devices.’
Such computerized suits would allow Air Force and Navy aviation workers to load bombs onto the undercarriage of aircraft or place munitions into storage or onto trucks for shipment. The full exoskeleton gives a worker the strength to pick up in each hand and handle, all day long with minimal fatigue.
The military refers to these suits as “powered armor” for their “future soldiers.”
Think of it like this, whatever the human wants to do, the XOS makes him stronger.
A lighter weight XOS2 suit is under development, but might only have ½ the power. Perhaps operators should be forewarned not to pick their nose?
Technological issues remain a stumbling block related to powering the super suits. Not to fear, Robert Downey Junior’s character figured it out in the first “Ironman” movie, and I plan to send Raytheon-Sarcos a DVD.
And the average cost to become a real life Iron Man? Perhaps a mere $6-10 million each, once full scale production begins?
I trust that you have watched the movie Alien. One of the notable scenes is where the character “Ellen Ripley”, played by Sigourney Weaver, climbs into a robotic power-walker exoskeleton and subdues the Alien. With the added strength provided by the suit, she is able to toss the creature out of the bay doors of the spaceship. Way cool. If you haven’t purchased a robotic exoskeleton, I highly recommend that you do.
Now back to reality. A couple of years ago, the U.S. Army revealed its XOS Exoskeleton, which weighs195lbs, and is made by defense systems firm Raytheon. You might see XOS used in military operations within the next five years. XOS Exoskeleton gives the wearer 17 times the strength of a normal human being. Holy crap Ripley!
The XOS Exoskeleton works by pumping warmed hydraulic fluid through the metal frame which 'takes over' the weight from the human body.
Fraser Smith, vice president of operations for Raytheon-Sarcos, said: ‘Rather than using machinery to pick up, haul and place materials, having the human element involved can make work more precise and cut down on time to bring in cranes or other devices.’
Such computerized suits would allow Air Force and Navy aviation workers to load bombs onto the undercarriage of aircraft or place munitions into storage or onto trucks for shipment. The full exoskeleton gives a worker the strength to pick up in each hand and handle, all day long with minimal fatigue.
The military refers to these suits as “powered armor” for their “future soldiers.”
Think of it like this, whatever the human wants to do, the XOS makes him stronger.
A lighter weight XOS2 suit is under development, but might only have ½ the power. Perhaps operators should be forewarned not to pick their nose?
Technological issues remain a stumbling block related to powering the super suits. Not to fear, Robert Downey Junior’s character figured it out in the first “Ironman” movie, and I plan to send Raytheon-Sarcos a DVD.
And the average cost to become a real life Iron Man? Perhaps a mere $6-10 million each, once full scale production begins?
I love robotics but I must admit that this is going to cost a lot to invent. Imagine everyone at work working with super suits and doing tasks at super human speed. Wow..what a great invention that will be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with lilian, I will cost a lot of money, but it will really help to make things faster , not just in the military , but also in different industries and areas of life
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who works in a company in spain. There the workers work like machines and have to pick up heavy loads with their bare hands. I think the idea of this suit should really be put into work,because it is going to make life a lot easier for a lot of people
ReplyDeleteI also have friends in other countries that works that much and just as babyblogger said the suit would be a good gadjet for labourers and people who deal with lots of luggages
ReplyDeleteS
Wow that'll be interesting. It's amazing how creativity in movies spurs us on to create the real thing.
ReplyDeleteThat would be awesome to have Iron Men around! Unless it fell into the hands of our enemies...
ReplyDeleteWhy have Iron Man when you can have Robocop! Isn't that similar to what this project would be like - almost?
ReplyDeleteWould they be able to create something for disabled people instead of military usage?
ReplyDeleteIn the future every heavy duty work will be done by robots because they are capable of doing heavy duty work day in and out without any halts. I am really amazed at the kind of robotic technology that is unfolding now.
ReplyDeleteThese kind of heavy duty robots are certainly beneficial for defense system because they got to do a lot of dirty work on the borders including killing enemies, so I guess these exoskeletons are good for military
ReplyDeleteWhoa, the technology is really great but I think there is a lot to develop in terms of handling and keeping the cost of production under control. I mean a $10 million robotic suit is really going to keep eyeballs rolling.
ReplyDeleteits amazing,it will cost a lot of money,i think its very useful for people in everday life,
ReplyDeleteit is going to make life easier and faster and robots are useful and good for military work on
the boarders.i really love it.
Amazingly true! As what tom said is correct.
ReplyDeleteHuman character development is also cut short by aging and death. Imagine what might have become of a Beethoven or a Goethe if they had still been with us today. Maybe they would have developed into rigid old grumps interested exclusively in conversing about the achievements of their youth.
Hey celine nice explanation there, I have the same topic in my research and this blog explains a lot.
ReplyDelete@eileen: if you want more information, you can request the blog owner to post more. He seems to know a lot about the topic. Im gonna go back here from time to time. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThe world of how all sectors plant is still undergoing many changes that force workers to the area to be updated constantly with both training and with the new modes online.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tom. Robotics can replace those who are in the military to decrease the number of soldiers who die during war. Robotics can also help a lot for making things fast and more easily. But if it will cost too much, why don't they just hire people for doing the work so that many will benefit for the money alloted for inventing robots.
ReplyDeleteIf Robots will replace human being for carrying the heavy duty work,human will getting weaker.
ReplyDeleteMaybe human being in the future wont as powerful as now.
But it would be cool if i could wear a XOS suit.
Imagine that you could carry a big fat man with your own hand.
marzee26 - Robots will be employed, humans will mostly be unemployed. Will that be a good thing?
ReplyDeleteredrenegade - Oh, you misunderstood what I meant. It should go like this, if making robots will cost a big amount of money, why don't the companies/inventors just allot the money for employing people to do the work. :)
ReplyDeleteIs there somebody here who already watched the movie Surrogates? It is a futuristic story of every individual having a robotic copy of himself. But on the latter part, the robots were destroyed for the sake of the humans.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if there is already a survey on the percentage of people who want robots to do the duties of human.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, when we watch movies with robot characters, we are very astonished with their abilities to fight the enemies, do incredible things, and make activities to be done easily. But at the back of our minds, we are having doubts if those can be possible. Now, with what humans can do with the help of technology, those in the movies are becoming real as time goes by.
ReplyDeleteWhen I watched Bicentennial Man, I almost forgot the present times. I put myself in the story, believing that a robot can be a real human; look like a human, talk like a human, cry like a human, and love like a human. But that will take 200 years, as the title says.
ReplyDeleteI want that robotic suit!
ReplyDelete