DIY 18-ft.-High Robotic Exoskeleton 206
Hacx sends along a piece from PopSci that begins "Carlos Owens had handled all kinds of machines as an army mechanic, but he always dreamed of using those skills for one project: his own 'mecha,' a giant metal robot that could mirror the movements of its human pilot. Owens, 31, began building an 18-foot-tall, one-ton prototype at his home in Wasilla, Alaska, in 2004. Working without blueprints, he first built a full-scale model out of wood. Moving on to steel, he had to devise a hydraulics system that would provide precisely the right leverage and range of movement. He settled on a complex network of cables and hydraulic cylinders that can make the mecha raise its arms, bend its knees, and even do a sit-up. ... He foresees mechas having uses in the military and the construction industry, but acknowledges that right now they're best suited to entertainment. The first application he has in mind: mecha-vs.-mecha battles, demolition-derby style."
Re:Aliens! (Score:5, Interesting)
There have been some military projects, but the problem is that anything which can lift over a tonne one-handed requires a power supply too big to attach to the suit itself.
...video of a prototype (Score:5, Interesting)
Novody would want a battery powered exoskeleton with a 10 minutes charge.
Found some videos (Score:1, Interesting)
Here's the builder talking about it [youtube.com]
Here's a really short video of it in action [youtube.com]
Re:Aliens! (Score:3, Interesting)
I did say "power", but what I was referring to was the systems meant to support the suit's hydraulics. It would be more like a hose.
Re:Aliens! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Aliens! (Score:3, Interesting)
Well if you want to be able to go long distances you'd probably want all the hydraulics stuff self contained on the unit itself otherwise you're going to have to deal with some crazy pressures (or very large diameter hoses I suppose) and a lot of power to drive the fluid. I'm not a hydraulics expert but the company I do IT for design and manufacture dredgers that use hydraulics. Our normal dredgers would probably operate down to about 500 metres at most, not entirely sure, but we are designing a deep water (max of 3000 metres) system that has a self contained hydraulics system powered electrically from the surface. Obviously that would add a lot of extra bulk and complexity and it would probably be better just to use a bunch of electric motors instead?
Re:Damnit, that looks awesome. I want a video of i (Score:2, Interesting)
Bad weapon, but useful for construction? (Score:2, Interesting)
I agree with you, in the context of a weapon. But consider how useful this could be for construction. The ability to lift large objects (like beams) into position could be quite useful.
A four-legged version might be more useful, however.
"Loader-Lifter" implemented in real life (Score:3, Interesting)
By Sarcos corporation. This one is a bit smaller, and has no grippers yet, but the arms and legs function. IN fact, the arms and legs are *more* agile and human-like than in the Aliens movie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhj3Z9o6t0g [youtube.com]