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 Suit' Combat Exoskeleton Project Still Alive
The 'Warrior Suit' combat exoskeleton idea is still alive, according to unclassified April 2022 presentation from the Maneuver Capability Development Integration Directorate (MCDID) at Army Futures Command.
"…inspired by Starship Troopers in his conception of powered #exoskeletons, paraphrasing #scifi author #Heinlein: “…you don’t have to think about it. You don’t have to drive it, fly it…: you just wear it…it takes orders directly from your muscles.” https://t.co/yc1CjtkMcN
— Heinlein Society (@HeinleinSociety) June 16, 2023
“We will build that Warrior Suit in baby steps,” said [deputy director of robotics requirements for the MCDID Ted] Maciuba at the time, according to Defense News. “The first thing is: how are you going to allow a soldier to carry that extra 50 pounds and not feel like they’re carrying it? And then we will work our way up to upper body and we will start to integrate it so that it will be a Warrior Suit by 2040-ish. We have to take it in small steps.”Maciuba was directly inspired by Starship Troopers in his conception of powered exoskeletons, even paraphrasing the sci-fi classic author Robert Heinlein in a 2018 article for the National Infantry Association on battlefield robotics: “The beauty of an [exoskeleton is that] you don’t have to think about it. You don’t have to drive it, fly it, conn it, operate it: you just wear it, and it takes orders directly from your muscles.”
(Power Suit from 'Starship Troopers' by Robert Heinlein)...Most recently, U.S. Special Operations Command spent five years developing the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS) system that, colloquially known as the ‘Iron Man’ suit in the press, was abruptly abandoned in 2019 amid challenges integrating the complex latticework of unique subsystems into one cohesive whole.
(Via TaskandPurpose.)
Science fiction fans are well aware of Robert Heinlein's powered armor from Starship Troopers (1959), but may not know about John W. Campbell's earlier description of atomic powered lifting suits in The Brain Pirates (1938):
"We have those new suits rigged with atomic-powered lifting gadgets, so that'll protect us from the weight, if what our instruments say about that world's true...""I'll go check up on those suits and make some adjustments. I hadn't thought they'd have to handle any double-gravity worlds."
(From 'The Brain Pirates' by John Campbell)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/27/2023)
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 - (" Warfare ")
'Warrior Suit' Combat Exoskeleton Project Still Alive
'Suited up, you look like a big steel gorilla.'
Sea Drones Attack Russian Fleet
'...autofreighters, and other self-piloting craft.' - Ray Naylor, 2022.
Slaughterbot AI KIller Quadcopter Drones
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.' - Neal Stephenson, 1995.
Russia Working On Military Exoskeletons
'...you look like a big steel gorilla...' - Robert Heinlein, 1959.
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
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.'
Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
Satyress Centaur Robot Horror Reminds Everyone Of Something
'Fess was very dutiful'
When Colds Threaten You Can't Do This - Or Can You?
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft
'Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship.'
Biological War: A Scenario
'And now they wre busily transforming all their companions, and so on, and so on...'
Pole-Dancing Stripperbot Robot
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
Collective Superintelligence Is At Hand!
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
Instant Journalists: Ordinary People With Cell Phones
'We'll show them whose planet this is!'
Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor
'The electronic body analyzer had been developed...'
