Future soldiers may be wearing 'Iron Man' suits

[unhappycamper]

Trying on real-life 'Iron Man' suitTrying on real-life 'Iron Man' suit


Future soldiers may be wearing 'Iron Man' suits
By Eric Marrapodi and Chris Lawrence, CNN
November 11, 2010 3:46 p.m. EST

Salt Lake City, Utah (CNN) -- A lunchtime crowd is gathering beside the parking lot at Raytheon Sarcos, the defense contractor, on a recent day in Salt Lake City. White-collar workers from nearby office parks stand with their yogurt cups and sandwiches, watching with quiet awe as a man in a metal suit -- sort of half-man, half-robot -- performs superhuman feats of strength.

This may be the closest these people will get to a real-life "Iron Man," the character from the comic books and hit movies.

Inside a prosthetic shell of metal and hydraulics, Raytheon test engineer Rex Jameson is putting an XOS-2 exoskeleton through its paces.

As the crowd watches, Jameson uses his robot hydraulic arm to shadowbox, break three inches of pine boards and toss around 72-pound ammunition cases like a bored contestant on the "World's Strongest Man."

The suit moves as he moves and amplifies his strength 17-fold. It doesn't fly though.

[WinkyDink]

1. And then so will your local police, for "crowd control." BET on it.

[melm00se]

2. Iron man?

How about "starship troopers"?

On the Bounce Trooper!

[Nihil]

3. Same thought here! (n/t)

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Aw geeze

x(

[Skidmore]

5. Personally, I'm hoping that

Klaatu comes and pulls the plug on this insanity.

[melm00se]

8. ok, so the miltary perfects this technology

and then it ports over to the civilian market for use with the disabled?

insanity then?

[Skidmore]

9. Then I reference the

movie "Surrogates."

[melm00se]

11. then I, in turn,

will step into the real world and list:

GPS
Atomic Power
Jet engines
Radar
metal enclosed canned food
plastic surgery
the internet
microwave over

all of which are derived from military technology or research

[Skidmore]

13. Of those, the only two I use are

the internet and a microwave occasionally. I'm really not impressed with much of the new technology. It is not readily accessible to the masses at an affordable price. It bleeds our planet and enslaves its people. The 21st century and its great new jobs leaves me cold. Toys enthralling those who have which lock those who have not into deadend jobs without living wages. We have not evolved much as a species. Our greatest characteristic, the ability to learn, is exactly the one that will destroy us.

[Cid_B]

14. Check these out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcM0ruq28dc

[Phoonzang]

6. I know this is heresy here but...

The idea of power-suited troops is fucking awesome. I'm too much of a sci-fi fan to be all aghast and offended by the idea.

[Bigmack]

7. Cool! I think I'm gettin' a chubby...

just thinking about it. New Toys!

Oh.. wait... we are talking about WAR, aren't we.

The Other Side may just wet themselves when they see these, or they may just take a few casualties figuring out their weaknesses and then blow their shit away.

Non-combat people tend to think technology is the answer... High-tech, remote control war... but we have to remember that those Hum-vees were the answer. Until the other side invented IED's. Armor? Bigger IEDs. MRAPs? BIGGER IEDs.

How about we look into other ways of doing things?

Shit, we could buy the oil and opium cheaper than this shit.

[dionysus]

10. that's basically the the loader from Aliens movies...

[MadHound]

12. Hmm, all those micro circuits and computer chips in one of those,

Looks like a good shot of electricity would take that out. Perhaps a modified Taser:shrug: