Awesome exoskeleton from Japan, machining included

[Evan]

Yes, it is a 21 meg video. Sorry for those on a slow connection but this is amazing. Made by students and they have the entire thing nailed.



video
http://youtu.be/IdPpWy_O09k

story
http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/20...ronger-funnier


Add some power boost to this and the military will be all over it.

[lazlo]

Pretty goofy, but this is what DARPA is spending our tax dollars on:

MILITARY SOLDIER EXOSKELETON
Defense Exoskeleton for bionic supersoldier

http://www.tacticalwarfightergear.co...xoskeleton.php



Lockheed-Martin has a hydraulic exoskeleton, but the fatal flaw in all these designs is the power pack. Until you have a thermos-sized fusion reactor...

[aboard_epsilon]

military ..how about total control and a police state in the not too distant future .

don't look so good then does it

all the best.markj

[Black_Moons]

Pretty goofy, but this is what DARPA is spending our tax dollars on:
Lockheed-Martin has a hydraulic exoskeleton, but the fatal flaw in all these designs is the power pack. Until you have a thermos-sized fusion reactor...

I have a 20 pound 2 stroke motor that makes over 4000W (6HP) continiously (Well, Maybe a little more weight after we water cool it or add a proper 200W+ fan for stationary operation..) at only.. reasonable noise levels. Heh.

Then there is RC engines that can produce that in 2 pounds. of course, having to top your soldiers up with nitromethane might be intresting, And having them scream around at 30,000rpm...

PS: really hate those blue circles. Makes the guy look like an Iplod.

[Weston Bye]

Power for the exoskeleton? Internal combustion is still the best for energy density, but...

Any air-breathing engine would be vulnerable to something as simple as a fire extinguisher. CO2 (or any inert gas) would deprive the engine of air, A dry powder cloud would react inside the combustion chamber, not to mention the abrasive/corrosive nature of the residue. Might even clog a well filtered engine.

A steampunk steamsuit might last a little longer after the fire went out. A chemical reaction steam drive like a torpedo engine would not be so vulnerable, but would have a short "sortie" time. Electric drive would similarly be limited.

Probably not a good choice for crowd control.

[Evan]

There exist micro turbine power plants that fit in a back pack. I recall reading about one in the last couple of years that could easily power an exo like the one the Japanese students built. The primary use for suits like that wouldn't be actual fighting. It would provide the capability to cross even rugged country fast while carrying 2 or 3 times the usual load, most of that being ammunition and heavier weapons.

What the students have demonstrated is excellent control and balance with no active systems at all. That is a major achievement.

[Black_Moons]

Any air-breathing Human would be vulnerable to something as simple as a fire extinguisher. CO2 (or any inert gas) would deprive the Human of air, A dry powder cloud would react inside the Lungs, not to mention the irrating/corrosive nature of the residue. Might even clog a well filtered gas mask.

Probably a good choice for crowd control is gases and powders

^- fixed that for you.

I wonder whats harder to filter and/or provide artifical air for. Humans or IC engines (sized for driving an exoskeleton, So lets say about 10x highly fit human power, or around 3hp..)

On the one hand, Humans need clean air cleaned of many toxins/dirt/debrie.
On the other hand, Its not that big of a deal if an engine dies, And they can suck of toxins no problem, Dirt and debrie is a bigger problem, But the whole engine could be replaceable, So if you REALLY had to, a few minutes in debrie/excessive dirt could be done.

Humans need little air compaired to an IC engine.
'Air' or oxygen can not be easily compressed, and can't liquify at less then very, very cold tempatures. Nitros oxide on the other hand, could be (I wonder if you can make an engine that can easily switch on the fly to just fuel and nitros oxide?)

Filling soldiers up with liquid oxygen (And nitromethane?) does sound like fun high tech ****! Sure would make great hollywood style explosions when someone gets hit.

IC engines can be restarted after oxygen is returned, or after the debrie storm stops. Humans.. Not so much.

So overall, Much more air needs filtering for an IC engine, but does not need to be filtered nearly as well then the air for its human pilot.
If your gonna provide them artifical air for CO2/other gas blackout conditions, It might be about balanced for runtime of nitros oxide verus compressed oxygen, given equal bottle sizes for each (Just a guess, no math done to back that up, it just seems like the factors would reasonabley balance)

Of course, being on a huge exosketon, it would also be much easyer to carry said large bottles of oxygen/nitros.

And while I have not heard of any area denial CO2 weapons, Nor soldiers running around with oxygen bottles, Nore dust weapons capable of cloging IC engine filters or dust masks... I must admit, Dumping a few 1000 liters of liquid CO2 as a weapon does sound intresting. Why must we allways blow stuff up? Can't we find anything else to try?

[aostling]

What the students have demonstrated is excellent control and balance with no active systems at all. That is a major achievement.

Indeed, it looks like there is virtually no learning curve. Imagine one of these, fitted to your dog. Wouldn't he have fun?

[Teenage_Machinist]

I think actually that helping the disabled is a major goal of these.

In my own (soon to be) neighborhood, some UC Berkeley people build a very inexpensive (i.e. costs 50K instead of hundreds of thousands) exoskeleton allowing a paraplegic Berkeley student to walk. He was able to walk at his graduation IIRC.

[Evan]

I think actually that helping the disabled is a major goal of these.

Absolutely. That is how I happened across the article. I am planning an assist device for myself to make it easier to squat and get back up. Right now it is a major effort to get down to the floor and back up again. I can only do so a few times and then I need some sort of assist such as something to help pull myself up. I am thinking along the lines of a simple framework that straps to my legs and stores energy as I squat, probably in gas springs. When I need to get back up the gas springs provide the required assist.

I will have to do a lot of testing to find exactly what motions and degrees of freedom are required as well as the most comfortable way of attaching the braces to my body. An important requirement is that it not interfere with driving without having to remove it.