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Robocop?, or Ironman?....

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Ash Small

Fri Sept 07 2012, 11:01AM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

Robosoldier
July 24, 2008

Stephen J. Mraz

Body amplifiers are getting closer to reality.

A software engineer straps himself into a metal suit suspended from above. When the man wearing the exoskeleton moves, the machine mimics his every motion. As he throws jabs and bounces from foot to foot, so too does the suit, like a boxer. Considering this high-tech suit weighs 150 lb, heâ€™s light on his feet. Then, he snatches a 200-lb bar and snaps off 50 nearly effortless pulldowns. Heâ€™s been known to do 500 before boredom sets in.

Steve Jacobsen and a team of engineers at Sarcos â€” the Salt Lake City robotics company he started in 1983 which was recently purchased by defense giant Raytheon â€” developed the XOS (exoskeleton) with funding from the Pentagonâ€™s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). But Jacobsen sees applications in construction and the medical field as well. (Imagine an orderly whose strength was amped up by, say, a factor of 10.)

The team is on the cusp of realizing the militaryâ€™s decades-old vision of mechanically enhanced soldiers capable of carrying heavy loads. Using artificial muscles and controls, these powerful suits could soon be available to soldiers, firemen, even the handicapped. The biggest problem is in finding a portable lightweight power source. But Jacobsen claims thatâ€™s only six to nine months from being solved.

For reasons of power-to-weight ratio, the company looked at many systems but settled on hydraulics which have peak pressures of 3,000 psi. The actuators are rotary type. So far, hydraulics have been powered by electric motors in the 1 to 3-hp range or by an internal-combustion engine. â€œBut now that we have [power] consumption down, weâ€™re going to use two power packs, one electric, the other fuel powered,â€ he says. It takes about 1.5 hp to walk 3 mph, but XOS has moved as fast as 6.2 mph.

Wearers can climb a 30% grade and walk on their heels, if necessary. Depending on the intended use, future suits could be bulkier or more slimmed down. For every pound of load the wearer assumes, the suit assumes 10.

â€œFor Darpa, we had to make something that was agile, quick, and strong. Weâ€™ve been making articulated robots for 20 years and are probably the best people to develop the XOS,â€ says Jacobsen. The device lets wearers raise 150 lb over their heads 130 times and lift about 250 lb at one time. â€œIt magnifies what wearers do by whatever gain we pick.â€

But isnâ€™t this contraption heavy by itself? Not really. When the wearer raises an arm, the resistance is about 1 lb. A slightly built woman from Darpa lifted 35 lb at armâ€™s length using only her thumb.

Now the company focuses on more sophisticated versions that could be mass produced. Raytheon, Waltham, Mass., will manufacture exoskeletons and Sarcos, a selfdescribed skunkworks, will keep developing. â€œMany who worked on the project are hobbyists or are obsessed with the concept. We pick people who know a lot of things, like electronics, mechanics, and software,â€ says Jacobsen.

Could an exoskeleton-wearing soldier march for 8 hr carrying a 200-lb pack? â€œIâ€™ll bet heâ€™d be a heck of a lot less tired using it than not using it,â€ says Jacobsen. â€œBut our real goal is to take the person out of the exoskeleton, put the circuits in, and build the best humanoid (robot) imaginable. We could put longer arms on it and make it a quadruped. Or we could make it a hexapod with six legs.â€ Jacobsen claims his company has solved the problem of robotic legs lacking speed, grace, and strength.

Exoskeletons would let the military reduce exposure of its troops, for example, by having one soldier in the field doing the work of three. Another goal is to get the cost of an exoskeleton below that of a small automobile.

That said, an exoskeleton takes some getting used to. â€œOne of the people who tried it said: â€˜You can cancel the weight but not the mass.â€™ But if you develop a knack for it, you can just walk away,â€ says Jacobsen. â€œSome U.S. Army colonels came and tried it out. Then they shook hands and left. They just wanted to know if it was real.â€

Thomas W

Fri Sept 07 2012, 06:54PM

Registered Member #3324 Joined: Sun Oct 17 2010, 06:57PM
Location:
Posts: 1276

hmm, ive always wondered how they design the system so it is person controllable and wont break anyones bones, kinda wanna try make one, or part of it myself hehe

Sulaiman

Sat Sept 08 2012, 08:44AM

Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140

I also wonder about the potential for harm to the user,
accidental or deliberate emi could be a nightmare !
or plain old software 'bugs'

WOULD ANYONE WITH SOFTWARE VERSION X.XX WHO STILL HAS ARMS
PLEASE UPGRADE TO THE NEW VERSION.

It is a sad reflection of humanity that almost all new technology development
is funded for military purposes, probably since the development of the wheel.

testtest

Sun Sept 09 2012, 04:30PM

Registered Member #3271 Joined: Mon Oct 04 2010, 02:29AM
Location: Canada
Posts: 159

Robocop?, or Ironman?....

Or could be useful like Ripley's loader in Alien?

Nik

Mon Sept 10 2012, 02:26AM

Registered Member #53 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:31AM
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 638

richnormand wrote ...

Robocop?, or Ironman?....

Or could be useful like Ripley's loader in Alien?

That's what I thought. Even though most military equipment is a waste of money (when they buy/produce it in bulk) the research can be useful in a lot of other fields. Let them have their toys and we will benefit from it in the long run (if we don't all get blown up).

Ben Solon

Mon Sept 10 2012, 09:41PM

Registered Member #3900 Joined: Thu May 19 2011, 08:28PM
Location:
Posts: 600

awesome! what would be really cool is if the suit had a "learning" computer inside that catalogs what a real human does under certain conditions, ie. to stay balanced, to move in weird ways. that way when they swap human guts out for wires, the cpu will act like a human would. the other alternative would have to be having programmers think up, simulate, and write a perfect script for every possible movement.

robotics in the metro west- right in by backyard!

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