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For years, the Russian government has been attempting to create an 'Iron Man'-type of suit for battle. This had remained all talk, but in recent years, this world superpower has appeared to have started testing the use of exoskeletons on the battlefield with Ukraine. Even prior to recent Russian media announcements about their hope to build a superhuman exoskeleton for soldiers, giving them the ability to both carry more weapons and have more stamina, Russian powers had been rumored to have testing out a suit of armor that would make Star Wars fans nostalgic. Russian media stated that artillery forces...

Inspired by the natural, twisting patterns of a lobster shell, Australian researchers say they have found a way, using 3D printing technology, to improve the strength of concrete for use in complex architecture. Reinforced with steel fibres, the concrete becomes more durable when set in a pattern that copies a lobster shell, according to a new study from Melbourne’s RMIT University. Rather than use a mould, the process involves depositing layers of concrete one on top of the other, directed from a computer program using 3D printing technology.

Adam Gorlitsky hit the wall hard during his second marathon attempt around the mile 20-mark this past Saturday at the Charleston Marathon in South Carolina. The only other time he had ever run this far was during his first marathon attempt last March at the Los Angeles Marathon. While battling against pain in his wrists and legs and pushing the limits on the motors on his ReWalk Robotic Exoskeleton, Gorlitsky fought on, not only hoping to capture his first marathon finish, but also better the world record for fastest marathon in a robotic walking machine. He did just that after...

MIT researchers say that lobsters could offer a solution to the problem plaguing most modern body armors: the more mobility an armor offers, the less it protects the wearer’s body. Guo told MIT News that the idea for developing body armor inspired by lobsters arrived while he was eating one and noticed that the transparent membrane on the animal’s belly was difficult to chew. Unlike the crustacean’s bone-like outer shell, the animal’s softer tissues remained a mystery, he said. Once researchers began to dissect those tissues, they made a surprising discovery. Making significant cuts into the membrane didn’t affect the...

It might resemble something out of Star Wars, but this is the prototype for a combat suit that Russia hopes will give its soldiers the edge on the battlefields of the future. The high-tech item includes an exo-skeleton, or outer layer, designed to boost strength and stamina and a layer of body armour to shield the wearer from bullets. The all-black kit also has a Stormtrooper-style helmet with a tinted glass visor and a mini task light poking out of the side. It was put on display on Thursday at the National University of Science and Technology in Moscow. A...

Military work is physically demanding—and we're not just talking about soldiers on the battlefield. Travel down the chain, and you'll find plenty of positions where strength and stamina are highly valued skills. Take the Navy for example. The Navy needs ships and those ships need to be built and maintained—a rough, physically draining job. Sandblasting, riveting, and grinding excess metal off the ships can take a toll on the human body. You're often carrying tools that can weigh upwards of 30 pounds. "There's a lot of wear and tear on you," says Adam Miller, director of new initiatives for Lockheed...

G.E. Hardiman I – Ralph Mosher (American) Hardiman is a name derived somehow, from "Human Augmentation Research and Development Investigation." and Man from MANipulator. Sometimes written as HardiMan, Hardi-Man, Hardi Man, Hardiman I. Said to also be officially called the "Powered Exo-skeleton." Note: some reports suggest that only one arm of Hardiman's was built. The above photo usually accompanies that comment, but it is incorrect. A complete Hardiman was built with both arms, but the comment refers to the earlier tests of just the single, upper manipulator. Later, even when the full machine was built, one side was made static,...

A heartwarming new video documents the story of a small child whose life has been radically changed for the better because of 3D printing technology. Two-year-old Emma was born with a rare disease called arthrogryposis that makes it so she can’t raise her arms without assistance. Through the use of 3D printing, a Delaware hospital created a mobile plastic exoskeleton that now allows Emma to use her arms for many things. 3D printing ensures that a new exoskeleton can be created if Emma breaks or outgrows it. Emma is now on her second 3D-printed jacket and calls the device her...

Austin Whitney walked on Saturday. No faith healers were involved. Yet when the paralyzed 22-year-old rose from his wheelchair and stepped across the UC Berkeley commencement stage to shake Chancellor Robert Birgeneau's hand, the crowd of 15,000 at Edwards Stadium went wild with cheers, as if witnessing a miracle. In a way, they were. "Ask anybody in a wheelchair; ask what it would mean to once again stand and shake someone's hand while facing them at eye level," Whitney said in anticipation of his momentous day. "It will be surreal, like a dream." Or like putting on the Iron Man...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A new device developed by a Berkeley company was unveiled Thursday that will soon give people paralyzed by debilitating injuries a second chance at walking. Eighteen years ago, Amanda Boxtel was paralyzed in a skiing accident; today, a futuristic invention is helping her walk upright again. Boxtel strode onto a stage in San Francisco Thursday morning without the use of her wheelchair, draped in a 45-pound bionic exoskeleton that guided her leg movements using computer sensors. The invention, called eLEGS, or Exoskeleton Lower Extremity Gait System, was unveiled by Berkeley Bionics, an East Bay company founded in...

Technology has always defined how wars are fought, from swords to bows and arrows through the invention of gunpowder and the dawn of the aircraft and, now, to the presence of laser-guided unmanned aerial drones and bomb-diffusing robots. The U.S. military is now hoping the next decade will see a new class of warrior, a faster, stronger and more durable exoskeleton-empowered infantryman. Such an "iron man" was unveiled Monday at a demonstration of Raytheon Company's new Exoskeleton (XOS 2) at the company's research facility in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A radical powered exoskeleton under development for use by the US military is to be fitted with fuel-cell power supplies which will increase its endurance from hours to days - and furnish juice for the burgeoning load of electronics carried by modern soldiers, too. Global arms behemoth Lockheed, developing the Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC™) after buying the originating firm Berkely Bionics, announced this week that fuel-cell firm Protonex will "develop power supply concepts that will enable the HULC™ robotic exoskeleton to support 72+-hour extended missions". Here's a company promo vid about the HULC:

HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) - paralyzed for the past 20 years, former Israeli paratrooper Radi Kaiof now walks down the street with a dim mechanical hum. That is the sound of an electronic exoskeleton moving the 41-year-old's legs and propelling him forward -- with a proud expression on his face -- as passersby stare in surprise. "I never dreamed I would walk again. After I was wounded, I forgot what it's like," said Kaiof, who was injured while serving in the Israeli military in 1988.

Super Soldiers Coming to a War Near You Super Soldiers may not be something only seen in sci-fi movies. The U.S. Army is developing--in conjunction with a Salt Lake City robotics company, Sarkos--technology to turn a 98-pound weakling into a Superman. "The future is now" was the motto of George Allen, of LA Rams and Washington Redskins fame. It might just as well be the motto of the U.S. Army. Rex Jameson bikes and swims regularly, and plays tennis and skis when time allows. But the 5-foot-11, 180-pound software engineer is lucky if he presses 200 pounds—that is, until he...

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...

Berkeley Bionics™, formerly Berkeley ExoWorks, designs and manufactures lower extremity exoskeletons to augment human strength and endurance during locomotion. The exoskeleton is comprised of two powered anthropomorphic legs, a power unit, small on-board microcomputer, and a backpack-like frame on which a variety of heavy loads can be mounted. This system provides its pilot (i.e. its wearer) with the ability to carry significant loads (up to 150 pounds) on his/her back with minimal effort over any type of terrain for extended periods of time without reducing his/her agility. The pilot's physical effectiveness increases significantly since he/she does not feel the backpack...

Nov. 21: An experimental robotic exoskeleton turns grunts into super-soldiers. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=109_1195663753

Troy Hurtubise is facing eviction after his Trojan invention flopped.Troy Hurtubise really put everything he had into his bulletproof combat suit. He spent two years and tens of thousands of dollars developing the Trojan, hoping to sell it to the Canadian or American armed forces, or to another friendly government. Now he's broke. Last month, he promised the Trojan would give soldiers in the field affordable, lightweight protection from bullets and bombs alike. He had worked all kinds of extras into the body armour: a ventilation system and multiple lights in the helmet, pepper spray that could shoot from the...

It is the ethical dilemma that for decades has troubled the rich and aspiring the world over: when you place a live lobster in a pot of boiling water, does it feel pain? Norwegian scientists were asked to investigate pain, discomfort and stress in invertebrates and claim now to have discovered that the answer is no. Their conclusion applies also to crabs and to live worms on a fish hook. None of these feel a thing. Which is good news for Norwegian fishermen at least. Their government was considering a ban on live worms as fish bait under revisions to...