On May 18, 11:04=A0am, HVAC <MR.H...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Sounds like the 'power armor' in Heinlein's "Star****p Troopers".
> Now all we gotta do is equip the squad leaders with nukes.
>
> (AP) -- Rex Jameson bikes and swims regularly, and plays tennis and
> skis when time allows.
>
> But the 5-foot-11, 180-pound software engineer is lucky if he presses
> 200 pounds -- that is, until he steps into an "exoskeleton" of
> aluminum and electronics that multiplies his strength and endurance as
> many as 20 times.
>
> With the outfit's claw-like metal hand extensions, he gripped a weight
> set's bar at a recent demonstration and knocked off hundreds of
> repetitions.
>
> Once, he did 500.
>
> "Everyone gets bored much more quickly than I get tired," Jameson
> said.
>
> Jameson -- who works for robotics firm Sarcos Inc. in Salt Lake City,
> which is under contract with the U.S. Army -- is helping *****s the
> 150-pound suit's viability for the soldiers of tomorrow.
>
> The suit works by sensing every movement the wearer makes and almost
> instantly amplifying it.
>
> The Army believes soldiers may someday wear the suits in combat, but
> it's focusing for now on applications such as loading cargo or
> repairing heavy equipment. Sarcos is developing the technology under a
> two-year contract worth up to $10 million, and the Army plans initial
> field tests next year.
>
> Before the technology can become practical, the developers must
> overcome cost barriers and extend the suit's battery life. Jameson was
> tethered to power cords during his demonstration because the current
> battery lasts just 30 minutes.
>
> But the technology already offers evidence that robotics can amplify
> human muscle power in reality -- not just in the realm of comic books
> and movies like the recently debuted "Iron Man," about a wealthy
> weapons designer who builds a high-tech suit to battle bad guys.
>
> "Everybody likes the idea of being a superhero, and this is all about
> expanding the capabilities of a human," said Stephen Jacobsen, chief
> designer of the Sarcos suit.
>
> The Army's exoskeleton research dates to 1995, but has yet to yield
> practical suits. Sarcos' technology sufficiently impressed Raytheon
> Co., however, that the Waltham, Massachusetts-based defense contractor
> bought Sarcos' robotics business last November. Sarcos also has
> developed robotic dinosaurs for a Universal Studios' "Jurassic Park"
> theme park ride.
>
> Jack Obusek, a former colonel now with the Army's Soldier Research
> Development and Engineering Center in the Boston suburb of Natick,
> foresees robot-suited soldiers unloading heavy ammunition boxes from
> helicopters, lugging hundreds of pounds of gear over rough terrain or
> even relying on the suit's strength-enhancing capabilities to make
> repairs to tanks that break down in inconvenient locations.
>
> Sarcos' Jacobsen envisions factory workers someday using the
> technology to perform manual labor more easily, and firefighters more
> quickly carrying heavy gear up stairwells of burning buildings.
> Disabled people also may find uses for the technology, he said.
>
> "We see the value being realized when these suits can be built in
> great numbers for both military and commercial uses, and they start
> coming down in cost to within the range of the price of a small car,"
> said Jacobsen.
>
> He declined to estimate how much the suit might cost in mass
> production.
>
> But cost isn't the only obstacle. For example, developers eventually
> hope to lengthen the suit's backpack battery's life and tinker with
> the suit's design to use less energy. Meanwhile, the suit can draw
> power from a generator, a tank or helicopter. And there are gas
> engines that, while noisy, small enough to fit into the suit's
> backpack.
>
> "The power issue is probably the No. 1 challenge standing in the way
> of getting this thing in the field," Obusek said.
>
> But he said Sarcos appears to have overcome the key challenge of
> pairing super-fast microprocessors with sensors that detect movements
> by the body's joints and transmit data about them to the suit's
> internal computer.
>
> Much as the brain sends signals to tendons to get muscles to move, the
> computer sends instructions to hydraulic valves. The valves mimic
> tendons by driving the suit's mechanical limbs, replicating and
> amplifying the wearer's movements almost instantly.
>
> "With all the previous attempts at this technology, there has been a
> slight lag time between the intent of the human, and the actual
> movement of the machine," Obusek said.
>
> In the demonstration, the bulky suit slowed Jameson a bit, but he
> could move almost normally.
>
> When a soccer ball was thrown at him, he bounced it back off his
> helmeted head. He repeatedly struck a punching bag and, slowly but
> surely, he climbed stairs in the suit's clunky aluminum boots, which
> made him look like a Frankenstein monster.
>
> "It feels less agile than it is," Jameson said. "Because of the way
> the control laws work, it's ever so slightly slower than I am. And
> because we are so in tune with our bodies' responses, this tiny delay
> initially made me tense."
>
> Now, he's used to it.
>
> "I can regain my balance naturally after stumbling -- something I
> discovered completely by accident."
>
> Learning was easy, he said.
iron man redux!
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