5 ms·

I suspect the biggest part of that will be reducing energy requirements by using springs, or equivalents.

• thechao 11y ago
  Semipowered and unpowered enhancing prosthesis are very hard to actually implement. Here's an ARS article about a lab actually succeeding: http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/04/an-unpowered-exoskeleton-decreases-the-energy-required-for-walking/ http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/04/an-unpowered-exoskele...
  • dogma1138 11y ago
    Allot of the planned exosuits are semi-powered they allow you to carry more weight buy actually distributing it to the ground through the boots rather than it having to hang on your shoulders and lower back. This is effectively lowering the waist suspension belt which is built into every high weight backpack. Effective weight distribution is just as important as core strength, a good backpack system with 60kg in it can feel lighter than a crappy duffle bag across your shoulder. The system it self can be recharged using the wearer motion to give the additional speed and strength when needed. Most combat engagements aren't long the actually power output of the suit will be concentrated into a few short bursts rather than long active periods (one of the reasons many prototypes us a capacitor bank rather than a battery). A suit designed like some of the supercap hybrids (Mazda 6 for example) isn't that far away and while there are quite a few engineering challenges current power density isn't a deal breaker. So there's a good chance that the first deployed suits will be very video game like and will have a cooldown, you need to jump over a 10ft wall? no problem.. you need to break a door in? easy.. just need to wait a bit before one stunt to another, that's doable, and not a deal breaker at one any level.