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And they want to call it a TALOS! Obviously some 40k fans are in the committee.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24474336

3 years seems unrealistic to me, but I am merely a layman messenger of the glorious birth of the mobile infantry. This is very exciting news and I can't wait to see what comes of it.

We've been looking at exoskeletons for years. There are several prototypes.

Biggest issues have been power supply. Either tethered, too small to be effective, drain too fast, or super heavy all limiting mobility.

 helgrenze wrote:
Biggest issues have been power supply. Either tethered, too small to be effective, drain too fast, or super heavy all limiting mobility.

Make it superheavy, give it tank like armor, especially in the front, and give it a high powered machine gun. Then you'd just need a high powered fist, ya know for picking things up or close combat, and maybe a teleportation system to make ship to ship strikes easier, and shoulderpads the size of lesser men, and... wait, what were we talking about again?

Other than fulfilling a sci-fi wet dream what role will these suits fill?

Non-combat roles, loading and unloading etc? I'd imagine any kind of large suit would be too cumbersome/too visible a target to be viable.

Here's a video from a few years ago!




Coming to a warzone near you!


Also, there is this guy! They need him on board! ENTHUSIASM OF A KING!

Yeah, DARPA has been working on these for decades. I remember reading about efforts back in the 90's, possibly even stretching to the 80's. Tons of old Popular Science and Popular Mechanics.

Far as I know the above posts are right, the main limiting factor has generally been presented as the power source. A tether obviously isn't a good idea in a combat role (insert NGE jokes here) and batteries either drain too quickly or add too much weight.

I had seen some interesting ideas about using them for construction/loading/unloading/etc, basically the Power Loaders from Aliens, but we've already got proven tech with decades of use, so it'd have to bring something to the table to make it worth development and production, as does any other tech.

Or, y'know, convince a pile of congresscritters that it'd be totally sweet and oh by the way we'll make the shinguards in your state so you have a slice... >.>

Gitzbitah wrote:
And they want to call it a TALOS! Obviously some 40k fans are in the committee.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24474336

3 years seems unrealistic to me, but I am merely a layman messenger of the glorious birth of the mobile infantry. This is very exciting news and I can't wait to see what comes of it.

The message behind the three years development time is this.

"We the US military are asking for new combat armour and we are addressing the intellectual community by ourselves not the industrial-military complex via the government.
We know that if we ask a major company to produce the armour it will be talked over in committee for years and will cost billions, after that development can begin.
If we ask the people however we can bypass the middleman, get what we want at the speed the nerds enthusiasts and patriots can make it.
This sounds idealistic, but it was worked in the past. Not only do the US military buy items from smaller manufacturers connected to indie labs its historically how a lot of stuff gets done."

They can ask to have new combat armour from an independent supplier in a few years for millions, and fund it out of discretionary budgets, at least at an introductory scale;
or they can ask to have new combat armour from an armaments technology giant in a decade or so for billions, once the Senatorial select committee approves.

 Medium of Death wrote:

Also, there is this guy! They need him on board! ENTHUSIASM OF A KING!

This...just made my day. More people need to be like him!

And I"ve heard about these "powered suits" several times, but as stated before, one of the largest problems was with the power supply. I remember reading once about some kind of "suit" being designed that was filled liquid crystals (similar to the ones noted in the article), but they reacted to kinetic energy, and would become hard when hit with a high impact, like a bullet. Super cool stuff.

 Maddermax wrote:

 helgrenze wrote:
Biggest issues have been power supply. Either tethered, too small to be effective, drain too fast, or super heavy all limiting mobility.

Make it superheavy, give it tank like armor, especially in the front, and give it a high powered machine gun. Then you'd just need a high powered fist, ya know for picking things up or close combat, and maybe a teleportation system to make ship to ship strikes easier, and shoulderpads the size of lesser men, and... wait, what were we talking about again?

Power supply.. not the suit.....
Tethered = cables tying the suit to the power source.
Too small = portable but can barely turn on lights.
Drain too fast = goes with too small, powers full function of suit for a few minutes.
Super heavy = All power generated used to move power supply limiting suit functionality.

Once we have batteries that can store enough power without being too heavy powered suits will probably become more common. Not standard issue for the grunts, but for elite shock troops or special forces definitely.

Other than fulfilling a sci-fi wet dream what role will these suits fill?

Non-combat roles, loading and unloading etc? I'd imagine any kind of large suit would be too cumbersome/too visible a target to be viable.

There would be 2 basic roles.

1) You would equip special forces going on quick strikes into enemy territory with this suit. It would provide greater protection and greater fire power for small groups of soldiers.

2) As a line breaker squad in the context of a larger battle. Need to clear a block of houses occupied by enemy soldiers, you send in the armored infantry. They could also carry heavier weaponry than the normal foot soldier. Instead of a tripod mounted Mk19 you have a soldier that carriers it like an LMG. Swap it out with a Stinger launcher for anti-tank duties. How about a .50cal?

There is any number of advantages to a soldier that can carry bigger/more weaponry.

I can think of lots of reasons to want soldiers that are practically impervious to (non-specialized) small arms but can more easily go places a tank or APC can't.

Extra firepower certainly wouldn't be a bad thing either, agreed.

There's also been work on seeing how powered suits might be used in construction and search & rescue. Think collapsed buildings and such, where raw strength mixed with finer precision and an element of protection could be useful.

I believe the Navy was looking at some form of exoskeleton to assist with loading aircraft, but I don't recall if it was simply a proof of concept or if there were actual advantages over the machinery they already use to arm aircraft. It's not impossible that they'd simply spent too many hours watching Aliens...

Thats where a tethered version would at least have a practical application. Instead of using those little carts to load missiles/bombs you can simply have a guy pick them up and attach them to the aircraft. Quicker reload times with more precision to boot.

I can imagine a bunch of guys in heavy armor carrying 50's would make for an excellent bullet sponge and diversion.

Why no just put a tiny nuclear reactor on the soldiers back
We could take a Note from Khador and make Steam Powered Armor.

if we ever manage to make reactors that small the suit would never need to refuel, ever.

 Grey Templar wrote:
if we ever manage to make reactors that small the suit would never need to refuel, ever.

And if that ever happens, there will be a wave of geeks dying from joy-induced heart attacks on the day it's announced.

~Tim?

Power supply problems you say? Just build an ARC reactor. Problem solved.

Who will never get to wear one unless you are in the military

 Easy E wrote:
Power supply problems you say? Just build an ARC reactor. Problem solved.

IN A CAVE.

WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Who will never get to wear one unless you are in the military

I wouldn't say that. As with many technologies, if the military embraces and refines it, it's not impossible that we'd begin to see their use in other fields as well.

For example, I've heard of a few companies working on exoskeletons in the medical field, both for power assist on people with injuries or disabilities, and for staff to assist with heavy lifting. Something that lets a 100 pound nurse lift a 300 pound patient safely on his own would be pretty useful.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Once we have batteries that can store enough power without being too heavy powered suits will probably become more common. Not standard issue for the grunts, but for elite shock troops or special forces definitely.

This is the crux of it. Whoever cracks the puzzle of a more efficient material for batteries than what we have now (we're still on nickel-cadmium, right?) will have solved a LOT of problems beyond just powered suits...

 Forar wrote:


For example, I've heard of a few companies working on exoskeletons in the medical field, both for power assist on people with injuries or disabilities, and for staff to assist with heavy lifting. Something that lets a 100 pound nurse lift a 300 pound patient safely on his own would be pretty useful.

Not to mention applications in construction, fire fighting, disaster relief, and pretty much any job that involves lifting heavy objects or where increased durability might be beneficial.

They already have limited versions of exo-suits in use, today, in warehouses and factories in Japan, I guess it would be straightforward once you have got the articulation/control sorted out to create an extension of that with some armoured plating.

Although, the best defence is always going to be not getting hit in the first place, and obviously creating something so it isn't going to break down in the middle of battlefield conditions has to be the priority.

 Super Ready wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Once we have batteries that can store enough power without being too heavy powered suits will probably become more common. Not standard issue for the grunts, but for elite shock troops or special forces definitely.

This is the crux of it. Whoever cracks the puzzle of a more efficient material for batteries than what we have now (we're still on nickel-cadmium, right?) will have solved a LOT of problems beyond just powered suits...

You mean my cellphone would last for a decent amount of time?

Forar wrote:A tether obviously isn't a good idea in a combat role (insert NGE jokes here)

Between the psychologically impaired fourteen year old pilots, the psychologically impaired adults, the city built on top of a military base, the horde of alien monsters, the horde of alien monsters used to kill the other alien monsters, and the general apathy towards any of the people devoted to saving the world, I'd completely forgotten that the tethers were a problem too.

Super Ready wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Once we have batteries that can store enough power without being too heavy powered suits will probably become more common. Not standard issue for the grunts, but for elite shock troops or special forces definitely.

This is the crux of it. Whoever cracks the puzzle of a more efficient material for batteries than what we have now (we're still on nickel-cadmium, right?) will have solved a LOT of problems beyond just powered suits...

Is Li-Poly better than ni-Cad? I honestly know nothing about batteries. How much power do they really need though? How long does the average engagement last?

I had considered making the suits cheaper than a missile to destroy them to be a bigger problem. Did someone figure out a way around that one?

 Grey Templar wrote:
if we ever manage to make reactors that small the suit would never need to refuel, ever.

If you could wear a nuke reactor you could wear really heavy armor, such that you could even carry like a big machete and paint your stuff in garish colors to attract fire while your scouts sneak in. Probably would need some sort of armored scateboard tracked vehicle to get you there quick and dump you out though, some sort of land attack vehicle, like a an armored pirate ship or something...

I might be a little nervous with something on my back that can create a small mushroom cloud...

Reactors really aren't capable of exploding.

I rather have it explode then deal with leak radiation. There's no "Khan" around to draw blood from or a "Genesis Project" in the making.

You'd still die pretty quickly. The temperature would get you long before the effects of the radiation.

I rather go with a bright flash of light then be cooked alive. I only need to see K19 Widowmaker once to now that's not how I want to go out.