Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Warrior Web Exoskeleton For Soldiers Undergoes Tests
Warrior Web soft exoskeletons are being tested by DARPA; the intent is to see if a lightweight, conformal under-suit offering some battery power can take some of the load off of soldiers carrying heavy loads.
(DARPA warrior web)
The amount of equipment and gear carried by today’s dismounted warfighter can exceed 100 pounds, as troops conduct patrols for extended periods over rugged and hilly terrain. The added weight while bending, running, squatting, jumping and crawling in a tactical environment increases the risk of musculoskeletal injury, particularly on vulnerable areas such as ankles, knees and lumbar spine. Increased load weight also causes increase in physical fatigue, which further decreases the body’s ability to perform warfighter tasks and protect against both acute and chronic injury.The Warrior Web program seeks to develop the technologies required to prevent and reduce musculoskeletal injuries caused by dynamic events typically found in the warfighter’s environment. The ultimate program goal is a lightweight, conformal under-suit that is transparent to the user (like a diver’s wetsuit). The suit seeks to employ a system (or web) of closed-loop controlled actuation, transmission, and functional structures that protect injury prone areas, focusing on the soft tissues that connect and interface with the skeletal system. Other novel technologies that prevent, reduce, ambulate, and assist with healing of acute and chronic musculoskeletal injuries are also being sought.
In addition to direct injury mitigation, Warrior Web will have the capacity to augment positive work done by the muscles, to reduce the physical burden, by leveraging the web structure to impart joint torque at the ankle, knee, and hip joints. The suit seeks to reduce the metabolic cost of carrying a typical assault load, as well as compensate for the weight of the suit itself, while consuming no more than 100 Watts of electric power from the battery source.
Science fiction authors pioneered the thinking behind exoskeletons. In his 1959 novel Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein describes what he calls "powered armor"; it works like this:
Here's how it works, minus the diagrams. The inside of the suit is a mass of pressure receptors, hundreds of them. You push with the heel of your hand; the suit feels it, amplifies it, pushes with you to take the pressure off the receptors that gave the order to push.
(Read more at powered suit)
As Heinlein put it - "The real genius in the design is that you don't have to control the suit; you just wear it, like your clothes, like skin."
Via DARPA.mil.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/28/2015)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Robot Hand Separate From Robot
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...' - Philip K. Dick, 1955.
Is Optimus Autonomous Or Teleoperated?
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.' - AG Stangland, 1929.
Robot Masseuse Rubs People The Right Way
'The automatic massager began to fumble gently...' - AE van Vogt, 1944.
Optimus Robot Can Charge Itself
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.' - William Morrison, 1941.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS
'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
A System To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Robot Hand Separate From Robot
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Hybrid Wind Solar Devices
'...the combined Wind-Suncatcher, like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
Is Optimus Autonomous Or Teleoperated?
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.'
Robot Masseuse Rubs People The Right Way
'The automatic massager began to fumble gently...'
Solar-Powered Space Trains On The Moon
'The low-slung monorail car, straddling its single track, bored through the shadows on a slowly rising course.'
Drone Deliveries Instead Of Waiters In Restaurants?
'It was a smooth ovoid floating a few inches from the floor...'
Optimus Robot Can Charge Itself
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.'
Skip Movewear Arc'teryx AI Pants
'...the terrible Jovian gravity that made each movement an effort.'
'Robovan' Name Already Taken - Elon, Try These
There are alternative names that are probably in the public domain by now.
How Old Are Tesla Designs?
You be the judge.
Is Your Autonomous Tractor Safe?
'The field-minder finished turning the top-soil of a two-thousand-acre field.'
Smart TVs Are Listening!
'You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard...'
Police Drones In China Would Like To Have A Word With You
''OVERRIDE,' the City Fathers said suddenly, without being asked anything at all.'
Oh Great (Part 2), Fence-Climbing Robots
Please, no stingers.
