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Well, this is rather exciting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49907356

As the article says, it's not perfect, and won't work outside of lab conditions at the moment - but it's a significant development in the world cybernetics. It's proof positive of the concept of scanning brainwaves to instruct a full body exoskeleton.

The health implications are obvious. People currently wheelchair bound could face a very different future in the next decade or so. But there are of course others. In the realms of Sci-Fi, Ripley's powerlifter springs to mind, as do strength enhancing suits for soldiers and construction workers etc.

I recall watching a program a few years back talking about exo-suits. Those were ones that were taking muscle control from the operator physically rather than through brainwaves/nerve chips ; so they could be operated by anyone healthy. The military was talking about their intent with them not being for active fighting, but in support roles.

For example setting up a mobile airfield for rearming and refuelling helicopters in rough terrain. Being able to have a person lift and fit ammo, fuel tanks etc... rather than needing a wheeled fork lift would make it a lot easier to setup and tear down such installations.

They said their risk with a battle situation is that any damage to the machine could lock down the operator. Ontop of that it increased the size profile of the fighter. It's one thing if your bulky bag gets hit, but quite another if its the machine powering you.
Of course there's always trade-offs and a heavier armour system could carry far more body armour; or further cybernetic advances could reduce the size etc..


It's certainly very interesting times and the prosthesis market would go nuts for brain/nerve controlled robotics for the disabled.

Indeed.

From my (almost certainly flawed) understanding, we could make soldiers bullet proof with existing technologies. But, it would be so heavy and cumbersome as to be perfectly unsuited to modern war theatres - such as fighting a guerrilla foe.

But, put a powered exo suit under it? You solve much of the problem. And as we know, technology only gets smaller and smaller.

Whether that'll ever become properly cost effective for front line military, who knows.

But the other applications are numerous.

Soon we will be ready to fight the Inhumanoids.

Speaking of, when are they going to remake that? I watched it again recently and although the animation is low-quality Sunbow, it has a lot of modern features like being serialized.

 Overread wrote:
I recall watching a program a few years back talking about exo-suits. Those were ones that were taking muscle control from the operator physically rather than through brainwaves/nerve chips ; so they could be operated by anyone healthy. The military was talking about their intent with them not being for active fighting, but in support roles.

For example setting up a mobile airfield for rearming and refuelling helicopters in rough terrain. Being able to have a person lift and fit ammo, fuel tanks etc... rather than needing a wheeled fork lift would make it a lot easier to setup and tear down such installations.

They said their risk with a battle situation is that any damage to the machine could lock down the operator. Ontop of that it increased the size profile of the fighter. It's one thing if your bulky bag gets hit, but quite another if its the machine powering you.
Of course there's always trade-offs and a heavier armour system could carry far more body armour; or further cybernetic advances could reduce the size etc..


It's certainly very interesting times and the prosthesis market would go nuts for brain/nerve controlled robotics for the disabled.

I think the closest to the front line they were looking was for medevac and resupply; the ability to just pick up a soldier and (relatively) rapidly move them out of danger is quite appealing, as is effectively a “mule” to carry ammo, special equipment, etc.

 Jadenim wrote:

 Overread wrote:
I recall watching a program a few years back talking about exo-suits. Those were ones that were taking muscle control from the operator physically rather than through brainwaves/nerve chips ; so they could be operated by anyone healthy. The military was talking about their intent with them not being for active fighting, but in support roles.

For example setting up a mobile airfield for rearming and refuelling helicopters in rough terrain. Being able to have a person lift and fit ammo, fuel tanks etc... rather than needing a wheeled fork lift would make it a lot easier to setup and tear down such installations.

They said their risk with a battle situation is that any damage to the machine could lock down the operator. Ontop of that it increased the size profile of the fighter. It's one thing if your bulky bag gets hit, but quite another if its the machine powering you.
Of course there's always trade-offs and a heavier armour system could carry far more body armour; or further cybernetic advances could reduce the size etc..


It's certainly very interesting times and the prosthesis market would go nuts for brain/nerve controlled robotics for the disabled.

I think the closest to the front line they were looking was for medevac and resupply; the ability to just pick up a soldier and (relatively) rapidly move them out of danger is quite appealing, as is effectively a “mule” to carry ammo, special equipment, etc.

Yep, esp in rough and dangerous terrains where wheeled and tracked vehicles can suffer issues of their own or become impractical for fast support.


That said I could see another angle, mobile command units. Being able to suit up and walk into a region and provide local communications, operations control and perhaps even drone support (drones carried on the armoured suit) could become a reality. The operator is still removed from the front lines.

The risk, of course, is having more high end gear in smaller and smaller teams and setups making them vulnerable to attack should they be discovered.



Thinking further another area that might see use of exosuits could be in paradrops. The strain that the body can undertake in full combat drops can be extreme and I've seen more than one program on ex-paratroops who are crippled following repeat training and battle drops, not from injuries taken in the fight, but from the drop alone. If they could have leg supports that take the brunt of the fall, coupled to a back support then it could really help save their lives, bodies and increase performance once on the ground. They could even make them "one time use" suits that essentially break once used so that they can be abandoned in the field (or retrieved later) etc...

Even if it’s just medevac and resupply, it could revolutionise military tactics and that.

The dream of course is more War Machine than Iron Man, in terms of ideal application.

Consider the tactics of the Taliban - IEDs, hiding out in caves that have never been mapped. Stick a five man squad, ala War Machine in there, and you remove a slew of the enemy’s advantages. Resistant to enemy firepower, and packing lots of ammo for a sustained confrontation.

I’m talking slightly out of my bottom here as my military knowledge is piffling at best. But for tunnel fights, suitably reduced in scale and bulk, bloke in bullet proof armour, with autoloaded shotguns, in a cave and tunnel system is going to be an absolute terror. Not just from an attrition point of view, but also for scaring the enemy away to the point they don’t have time to clear things out properly.

That can lead to intelligence being increased, or at the very least being destroyed rather than moved on to the next hideout.

I am happy to see progress in this area. Paralysis scares me more than death.