Raytheon Exoskeleton brings 'Iron Man' to life

EE Times ^ | 05/02/2008 | R. Colin Johnson

[TLI]

PORTLAND, Ore. — The much-ballyhooed movie, "Iron Man," opens in theaters worldwide today (May 2), but the real "iron man" is already under construction at Raytheon Company (Salt Lake City, Utah). Raytheon's Exoskeleton project is the brainchild of project leader Stephen Jacobsen and is being funded by the U.S. Army.

The project, according to the company, permits soldiers to don an Exoskeleton suit that amplifies their strength--enabling them to lift 200-pound payloads without tiring.

The "Iron Man" exoskeleton being worked on by Robert Downey Jr. in the movie (left) is eerily similar to the real Exoskeleton (right) being developed at Raytheon.

In addition to amplifying strength and endurance, Raytheon also claims its Exoskeleton can increase a soldier's agility--enabling feats similar to those demonstrated--courtesy CGI (computer-generated imagery)--by the "Iron Man" in the film. Raytheon's Sarcos team, which has been developing the Exoskeleton since 2000, has demonstrated its wearer performing feats of strength as well as agility, including kicking a soccer ball, working out on a punching bag, climbing up stairs and navigating rough terrain.

As the ultimate mechatronics realization, sensors follow the soldiers own movements, which microcontrollers then transfer to the actuators in the Exoskeleton. Jacobsen's stated goal is to create an Exoskeleton suit that enables humans to "work inside robots" instead of just alongside them.

Past efforts at creating exoskeleton suits include Honda's "Hal-5," which was designed in 2006 by Tsukuba University engineering professor Yoshiyuki Sankai to help medical workers to lift and carry an elderly person.

[Alas Babylon!]

1988 Atlanta DNC “Sex Romp Video” Convention?

Wasn’t that Rob Lowe?

[Erasmus]

One noisy feedback pot and it'll you break you like a toothpick.

<}B^), I think.

[Xenalyte]

Which I can’t figure out, considering Eric Bana starred in a Hulk movie like two years ago.

[DBrow]

Maybe! I just re-read Haldeman’s “The Forever War”, they had (will have in the future) exoskeleton vacuum suits with more bells and whistles than you could imagine.

I liked Ripley’s cargo handler’s exoskeleton. The prop people put in wear and tear, and it just looked like Caterpillar or similar, right down to the controls.

[skinkinthegrass]

Wasn’t that Rob Lowe?.....I guess, it was

[Amendment10]

As a side note, I saw an Army(?) documentary about this technology years ago, perhaps on the Military Channel. A robotic, back-pack carrying unit was attached to a GI who was walking around with it. The robot connected to the GI with leg braces, the braces not only actually supporting the weight of the back-pack and keeping things in balance regarding the walking motion, but also acting as the steering wheel for the robot, the leg-braces tracking the motion of the GI's legs. Regardess of the weight of the back-pack and robotic unit, the GI was said to have been feeling only about five pounds of weight.

The only thing that I thought was clumsy about the robot is that it was power by a gas engine above the back-pack near the GI's shoulders, if I remember correctly.

Also, the robot in the documentary was a plain Jane, not the flashy, Hollywood-type robots that I see in the picts.

[Ransomed]

SABBATH!!! Heavy boots of lead fills his victims full of dread!!!

Fregards

[Mr. Blond]

Well, that Hulk movie was pretty bad, so Marvel is making another one the right way. After that apparently is a Thor movie, and then the X-men spin-offs.

[uglybiker]

So whose next?

Sea Man!