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

Latest By
Category:


Armor
Artificial Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work

"I'm a farm boy. It's very interesting; you can detect self-starting characteristics in this society and they are strongest among people who have had some kind of rural upbringing and a very impressionable stage."
- Frank Herbert

Exoskeleton (Medical)  
  Specially designed for Thins, eight-foot tall microgravity humans.  

In the novel, human beings who developed in microgravity environments were called "Thins." Whenever a Thin visited the home planet (Earth), special equipment was needed.

First use of the term "exoskeleton", as far as I know.

They were looking ... at a handsome, shapely, dramatic-featured man, eight feet eight inches tall and massing 147 pounds with and ninety-seven pounds without his exoskeleton. Except for relaxed tiny bulges of muscle in forearms and calves (latter to work lengthy toes, useful in gripping), this man was composed of skin, bones, ligaments, fasciae, narrow arteries and veins, nerves, small-size assorted inner organs, ghost muscles, and a big-domed skull with two lumps of jaw muscle. He was wearing a skintight black suit that left bare only his sunken-cheeked, deep-eyes, beautiful tragic face and big, heavy-tendoned hands.

This truly magnificent, romantically handsome, rather lean man was standing on two corrugated-soled titanium footplates. From the outer edge of each rose a narrow titanium T-beam that followed the line of his leg, with a joint (locked now) at the knee, up to another joint with a titanium pelvic girdle and shallow belly support. From the back of this girdle a T-spine rose to support a shoulder yoke and rib cage, all of the same metal. The rib cage was artistically slotted to save weight, so that curving strips followed the line of each of his very prominent ribs.

A continuation of his T-spine up the back of his neck in turn supported a snug, gleaming head basket that rose behind to curve over his shaven cranium, but in front was little more than a jaw shelf and two inward-curving cheekplates stopping just short of his somewhat rudimentary nose...

Slightly lighter T-beams than those for his legs reinforced his arms and housed in their terminal inches his telescoping canes. Numerous black, foam-padded bands attached his whole framework to him.

Technovelgy from A Specter is Haunting Texas, by Fritz Leiber.
Published by Galaxy Publishing in 1968
Additional resources -

The author adds

...Eight small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables riding in the angles of the T-beams, much like antique dentist drills were worked, I've read. The motors were controlled by myoelectric impulses from his ghost muscles transmitted by sensitive pickups buried in the foam-padded bands...


(From 'A Specter Haunting Texas' by Fritz Lieber)

Still operating wholly under my cloak, I untelescoped slim canes from my titanium exo-forearm-bones and with them and my good leg pushed myself erect and then still more erect until my head was on a level with those of the giants. The dwarfs’ eyes, steadily widening, followed me up. I noted that although they were of different heights, the dwarfs were all shoulder-bent to an equal four and a half feet — an odd detail.

Once fully erect — now I topped the giants by a half head — I pushed down bolts to lock booth knee-joints of my exoskeleton and stood on my two feet only, my exo-legs rigid rods from ankle to hip. Though teetery, it was practical — the taller the object, the easier it is to balance. I quickly retelescoped my canes — if Bill the Square Giant glimpsed them, he would surely cry, “Concealed weapons!”

Don't forget the atomic lifting suit from an earlier work.

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from A Specter is Haunting Texas
  More Ideas and Technology by Fritz Leiber
  Tech news articles related to A Specter is Haunting Texas
  Tech news articles related to works by Fritz Leiber

Exoskeleton (Medical)-related news articles:
  - HAL-5 Exoskeleton To Carry Mountain Climber
  - Robotic Ankle Exoskeleton Helps Users Regain Limb Function
  - MIT Exoskeleton Shoulders The Weight For You
  - Honda Walking Assist Exoskeleton Video
  - ReWalk Exoskeleton Video
  - Medical Exoskeleton Helps Paralyzed Man To Walk
  - Honda Walking Assist Device
  - Therapeutic Medical Exoskeleton Prototype
  - HULC Exoskeleton From Lockheed Martin
  - XOS 2 Raytheon Gen 2 Exoskeleton For Ironman 2
  - Berkeley Bionics eLEGS Exoskeleton
  - LOPES Robotic Exoskeleton Assists Stroke Victims
  - Paralyzed Woman In Robotic Exoskeleton Finishes Marathon
  - 3D Printed Exoskeleton Uplifts Little Girl
  - Robotic Exoskeleton Releases Man From Wheelchair
  - 'It Feels Like Robocop - Without A Weapon
  - SuitX Cheap Medical Exoskeleton
  - Medical Exoskeleton From Cyberdyne Gets FDA Approval

Articles related to Engineering
Philips Smart Palm Recognition Smart Deadbolt
MAGGIE Mars Aerial and Ground Global Intelligent Explorer
Pipedream Underground Delivery At Peachtree Corners
Hangzhou Robotic Trash Sorting

Want to Contribute an Item? It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add it here.

<Previous
Next>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

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 Science Fiction 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

Science Fiction in the News

Cheap Drunk Driver Detection From UofM
"Look, I can drive... Start, darn it!"

Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.'

Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.'

Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran?
Can one country take another's rain?

We Need To Build Anti-Drone Systems For Civilian Spaces
'the real border was defended by ...a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats...'

SensorWake Scent-Based Alarm Clock
'The odalarm awoke Jorj X. McKie with a whiff of lemon.'

AI Worms That Spread
'...there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net now'

Challenges Of Two-Armed Robots
When the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.

FlexRAM Liquid Metal RAM And One Particular SF Movie Robot
'Its lines wavered, flowed, and then painfully reformed.'

Ulm Sleep Pods For The Homeless
'The lid lifted and she crawled inside...'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.