Creating a Working Prototype of Armor to Move with You

[calebking]

As a former Army officer, I can attest to the fact that any armor used would need to be light enough to use without any mechanical assistance. This is because anything that can break, will break. I think it would be much more effective to spend money on research for lighter, more effective armor materials. Also, it would be nice to have a solid way of attaching them to your body without gaps. Maybe bullet resistant fiber mesh with fire and radiation protection? I'm dreaming now, but it isn't as far off as you would think.

 

[young'n'smart]

my first post:

well here is a link for a highly mobile exoskleten:

if you want an exoskeleten availble to the public look up berkly bionics who made a exoskelten for carrying weight of up to 200 lb

if you want a full exoskeleten look up the trojan armour or troy hurbitise.

 

[CAC1001]

Just curious, but does anyone think that something like those big AMP suits used in the movie Avatar will ever be created in the future? They are not the fantasy-type mechas we see that have all sorts of missiles and limbs that are guns, or those brightly-colored anime-type mechas, but they also are not a mechanical suit like say the Nintendo character Samus Aran or Iron Man wears.

They're kind of like the best of both worlds, they provide the goals of a mech suit, but large enough for a power source (the AMP suits use an engine to pwoer the hydraulics).

 

[athabasca]

Hi, first time poster here, long time fan of mechs and power armor.

This is going to happen in the near future I believe, as an avid science fiction fan and science news reader, I just can't help but think the power source issue will be overcome somehow.

Obviously there is no public data on the power consumption rates and total carrying capacity of the Sarcos exoskeleton, but it's not impossible that technology being deployed in Afghanistan when NATO is still there with it's huge army of private mercenaries with deep pockets and looser sets of rules.

So to offer something new to the thread, I noticed RTG's have been brought up but not in combination with http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Stirling_radioisotope_generator"

At 1.5 kg's and making 120w of power surely that comes close to the specs we need? Ten of these working together or one scaled up to 15kg and generating over a kilowatt of power would do it I think. Am I even in the ballpark?

I'm no engineer but heat management is definitely an issue here, especially in Afghan sunlight. The options might be this http://www.infinitepowersolutions.com/product/thinergy" Maybe going into buildings isn't a great idea when you're power source is giving off thousands of watts of heat.

Could anyone speculate on whether or not this is even feasible? 'All things break', and 'soldiers with WHAT strapped to their backs?' aside, I am researching for some near future fiction and love the 'mundane' angle. So please help enlighten me if you have some education in these matters.

As far as weapons go the AA-12 with all the different ammo types would have be to part of the firepower. Low recoil and lots of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atchisson_Assault_Shotgun#Cartridges". Also non lethal capabilities seem obvious to prevent collateral damage as much as possible. The reason the man's in the suit in the first place right?

Please critique, respond or just generally inform why that will never work at all.

 

[Mr. Blue Dot]

Hi this is my first post here, I've been looking around the forums for the last few days, and there are a lot of smart people here!

I've read thru all 12 pages of this thread, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/robotsuithal/index.html"!

I really like the control system for this suit, it measures nerve impulses and moves almost before you even know you're moving. It has me interested in how I could start tracking my own nerve impulses and use that information, but I don't know where to begin. I assumed that galvanic skin response sensors, like the ones on lie detectors, measured nerves impulses, but apparently they measure more or less the activity of sweat glands. I'm sure it would be possible to recreate this control system in the garage, and there are tons of other things it could be used for.

athabasca: Thats 1.5kg of fuel, not the entire weight of the reactor. Radiation and heat shielding alone would make it weigh hundreds, if not thousands of pounds with todays technology, unfortunately.

That being said, why would you need a backpack size nuclear reactor anyway? A few people on this thread have mentioned the idea. Personally I think it's overkill, and not practical. A powered suit will not need a charge that lasts decades.

A suit used for industrial and factory purposes would only be run for 4 hours at a time, since the operator would need breaks, and it wouldn't be far from a charging/refueling station. Of course, if it's operating in or near a building it could just be tethered to the buildings power.

As far as military goes, it almost seems like it would be more important to be able to easily refuel or recharge in the field. An engine that was able to run on a variety of fuels, gasoline, kerosene, ethanol, propane, diesel, ect., would be very versatile, and allow a soldier to find fuel almost anywhere, even if he has to build a still and make fuel himself.

But I say this while thinking about the current state of technology. Nuclear reactor backpacks are something we might see in the far, far, distant future, if ever. Nuclear batteries would be much easier to use and are in development now.

Some scientists have found they can store massive amounts of energy by http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/07/compressed-xenon-di-flouride-into.html" at pressures close to what's found halfway to the center of the earth. If they can make a battery it would probably be exactly what's needed to power a suit without the engine. Even that is a long way away though, and I'm honestly more interested in what can be done right now with existing tech.

Don't get me wrong, I like to speculate on what the future will bring just as much as anyone else, but a constant stream of science fiction has made me impatient for powered suits , and I want one now