Raytheon Exoskeleton Brings "Iron Man" to Life 199
An anonymous reader writes "Raytheon is bringing 'Iron Man' to life, according to EETimes. 'The movie opens in theaters worldwide today, but the real "iron man" has already been under construction at Raytheon Company (Salt Lake City, Utah) since 2000. Raytheon's Exoskeleton project is the brainchild of project leader Stephen Jacobsen and is being funded by the U.S. Army. The project, according to the company, permits soldiers to don an Exoskeleton suit that amplifies their strength — enabling them to lift 200-pound payloads without tiring.'"
Favorite part of the story (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Favorite part of the story (Score:5, Funny)
Missing ability (Score:2)
waste millions of government cheese making pointless boondoggle equipment that has the same basic functionality as a forklift...Wave of the FUTURE!
Hell, the Iron Man suit can't even compete with that!
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On a side note, I'd hate to be wearing one of those things and carrying around 400 pounds when it breaks down
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And it's not something the Raytheon suit will ever be able to do either.
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Yes, because in a gravity deficient environment, we need a robot that can lift 200lbs. comfortably.
Ever heard of inertia and momentum?
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My personal favorite, once this gear is on the surplus market: powered armor rickshaw! Weld a sitting capsule to the back of the suit and run your clients through traffic. Hooahh!
the suit unfortunately has the weakness (Score:2)
if it is used by anyone else, the suit is not an iron man, it is a war machine
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The cigars just make him look cool.
Raytheon (Score:3, Interesting)
The exo-skeleton concept has been around for
MANY years, just grab an old copy of Popular
Science from the 1960's. The subject was
"Man Amplifiers". Nothing to see here.
Re:Raytheon (Score:5, Funny)
The exo-skeleton concept has been around for
MANY years, just grab an old copy of Popular
Science from the 1960's. The subject was
"Man Amplifiers". Nothing to see here.
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Try `Starship Troopers' by Heinlein, 1959, for prior art and the penultimate description of an armored exoskeleton.
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Alien (Score:5, Informative)
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"The "Iron Man" exoskeleton being worked on by Robert Downey Jr. in the movie (left) is eerily similar to the real Exoskeleton (right) being developed at Raytheon."
They're on crack! It looks nothing like Iron Man.
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Oh yea - just what I was picturing. (Score:5, Funny)
It's like saying we already have jetpacks then pointing at a trampoline.
Rent a HAL robot suit for $1000 (Score:3, Interesting)
It may not have the same MAX strength gain but:
a) doesn't still require a tether
b) has a much lower profile
c) You can already RENT IT.
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110 and 49 years ago... (Score:3, Informative)
Of course, these exoskeletons were piloted by Martians, not humans.
Exoskeletons also appeared in Robert Heinlein's 1959 (or was it 1958 in the magazine serial?) Starship Troopers:
Primary Exoskeleton Problem (Score:4, Interesting)
Not yet (Score:4, Interesting)
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in other words logistical support (Score:2)
Andy.
Are we still fighting the USSR? (Score:2)
PA will be an absolute boon for taking out insurgents in a dig in position, when heavy fire power cannot be us
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The military isn't looking at these for front line combat, at least not initially. They're looking at these for logistical support. Modern militaries depend on lots of supplies that needs to be moved around, loaded on trucks, etc. Often supplies need to be shifted around in places where something like a forklift won't be very effective (think loading a tank full of shells off a truck in a gully someplace). That'
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The exoskeleton doesn't make much sense, at least in my opinion, for front line operations or at least not it its present form.
You said it all right there. Look at the capabilities of the exoskeleton; it allows the user to lift massive amounts of weight with very little fatigue. My uniformed belief is that the front line guy don't particularly need those features. However, the back-end and supply line uses are killer: imagine the efficiency gains on an aircraft carrier when missiles and the like are attached to the plane by a single crewman who uses his exo-hands to place the cargo with great precision.
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They might also be useful for police jobs, allowing the user to enter buildings and withstand small arms fire.
That's exactly what I was thinking, house clearing can be very dangerous to the point man, so why not make the point man invulnerable to small arms fire?
The power supply is too heavy, so what? Run an extension cord out the exo's butt and power the suit with the engine of the humvee. Then you could have your point man rip doors down, tear through walls and shrug off bullets while the rest of the squad basically holds back to protect the cord. In event of cord failure, just make sure the suit has a five
Mechwarrior anyone? (Score:2, Insightful)
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But, I am not asking for much, a raven would do me, something to just cruise around with, enough ECMs that you can't do anything to it and a couple of small weapons.
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And anyone who's played the original board game will quickly realize how bad of an idea this would be in real life. Ever shot out a mech's legs, have it fall over, and roll 2d6 to try and stand?
Meanwhile the tracked vehicle that cost less resources to deploy is still happily blasting away.
Bipeds are only useful for negotiating tough terrain... Huge mechs are pretty pointless. Their firepower can be carried by a tank, without any of their tendencies to fall over.
A quadruped maybe...
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This frequency is reserved for House Liao military use only
Do not attempt to transmit on it again.
Gray Fox (Score:2)
Only 200 pounds? (Score:2)
Sarcos exoskeleton actually + trivia :) (Score:2)
Trivia: the same company that developed the exoskeleton also made the animatronic dinosaurs for the jursassic park ride @ Universal Studios.
Trivia: Sarcos worked very closely with the Center for Engineering Design @ the University of Utah. IMHO a very interesting collaboration between the academic and commercial worlds.
I did some research work there during my bioengineering days and one of my friends worked on the project...
overselling it (Score:3, Interesting)
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Eerily similar? What? (Score:3, Funny)
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And..
Holy fucking shit.. Are we going to get rehashes of every robotics story we've ever heard comparing it to how it somehow is kind of like Ironman's fictional gear?
I guess this has to happen over every geekpr0n movie. It'll get called a blockbuster before release, then everyone will run out and buy shit related to the movie, then mcdonalds will have a happy meal toy for it, slashdot people will run linking headlines to any article that merely mentions the title.
Damn it people.
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Whoopie... does Raytheon have awesome batteries too? No? Then they won't be getting very far in that Iron Man suit, will they? Slashvertisement indeed. The suit isn't news. The power source is the sci-fi part.
Holy fucking shit.. Are we going to get rehashes of every robotics story we've ever heard comparing it to how it somehow is kind of like Ironman's fictional gear?
Why not? Every time we have a Cat5 hurricane, we hear the self flagellating global warming cultists tell us we should repent for enjoying the benefits of a modern society.
I guess this has to happen over every geekpr0n movie.
Yep, you nailed it. Comic book movie == /. gold. Who cares if it funds another MPAA lawsuit? I want my geekpr0n!
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The film's not going to be a classic, but it's well made and passed the time.
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Actually, in my mind the power supply wasn't the most amazing piece of technology. It was the CAD
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It's not like they made this thing to advertise the movie. It just happens to be interesting in light of the movie.
I think you need to get laid to stop worrying about such trivial matters.
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I actually watched the movie yesterday, and it was quite nice.
Now one thing I assure you, with all the features that stark's armor have properly working and with a fast start up time like that
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"Looks like you have raised your arm and engaged weapons:
O Do you want to incinerate your victim?
O Do you want to launch homing micro-rockets?
O Are you writing a letter?
O Were you just going to scratch your nose?"
Re:I Saw It (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:I Saw It (Score:4, Funny)
I Never Saw It (Score:2)
Once upon a time, when arms companies were owned by families, the movie may have been less than fantasy. There have been a few arms makers who turned to things like sewing machines and not always with loss of fortune. Today, arms companies are huge multinational companies without a soul. They will make and market whatever killing machines they can. Raytheon will make and sell this suit to anyone waging wars of aggression and shirk the responsibility as "it's up to politicians to make war and peace".
A
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Really? How many F-22's has Iran purchased?
Ok, ok, you probably think that's an unfair question. How 'bout this: how many American-made weapons has Al-Qaeda purchased?
Well...say SOMETHING. The silence is deafening!
Ok, last question: how much US technology was sold to ANY communist nation during the cold war?
????
So, basically, you're full of shit, right?
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Moot question, we've outsourced nearly 100% of weapons manufacturing to foreign nations anyway. That said, Al Quaeda was formed and trained by the CIA, and their initial cache of weapons consisted largely of American arms. since then they've purchased far cheaper Soviet designs not because they couldn't have bought pricier American ones, but because they wanted more bang for their li
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There is a FN (Fabrique Nationale) plant not 20 miles away from where I live, and I'm in the Deep South. The M16, which is the primary automatic rifle of the U.S. Military is made by FN (which is a Belgian company), and whoops, also by Colt, which is U.S. owned. So with one minute of research, I have already shot down (pardon the pun) your assumption.
But le
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Wait a minute, you're saying that stolen secrets are the same as sold products? There a HUGE difference between "sold" and "stolen".
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That's a lie, as has already been shown by Kierthos [slashdot.org].
Another lie. The CIA helped fund the original Afghan insurgency, meaning the local tribal warlords. Al Qaeda came on to the scene much later, and brought their own sources of funding. The CIA never had anything to do with them.
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lol
....... limited by law".
Isn't that a little like saying "Those damn evil US Soldiers will kill anyone they can!
Kinda takes the wind out of the sails of your argument, huh?
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Re:I Saw It (Score:5, Interesting)
I can go see a film purely for the CGI aspects. I don't always want deep meaning attached. Iron man is chalk full of western culture....because it's a western film. Also, yes, I think certain pieces of military hardware are cool (i.e. the SR-71 blackbird, the Global Hawk UAV, etc) from an engineering standpoint. So what? Hell, even weapon systems are cool when they're used properly in a movie (i.e. the Death Star was a weapons system mind you). If you're looking for something deeply meaningful, perhaps going to the movies isn't your best choice of venue.
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Going to a movie to watch it for the CGI is like reading a book for the words.
Sure you can use some fancy ten syllable words, but if the plot sucks fancy words won't save the book.
Two movies come to mind when I say this... Star Wars: Episode I and Godzilla (The American One)
Now granted, CGI can be used with a good effect like Lord of the Rings, Matrix, and say Episode III.
These movies didn't have the most deep and thou
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Does it now. Tell me, do you hear a lot of stupid? Well, I remember a wise man once saying stupid is as stupid does.
STEP AWAY FROM THE STUPID
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Phew - good job you posted AC otherwise you'd feel embarrassed, we'd know who you are and strangers in the street would be be pointing at you and smirking for the rest of the day.
Your penalty is to watch TRON 3 times in a row this Sunday.
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Re:I Saw It (Score:5, Interesting)
I disliked V for Vendetta, because that truly was an film which took serious liberties with the source material (to the point where the original author declined to be credited). It misrepresented the plot to make it appeal to fools like you; the kind of fools that see homo-eroticism in a superhero story and aren't aware of the really sinister films; the ones that pander to the American anti-American (and I say this as a British person). I mean the kind of tiresome American who thinks that the two solutions to the current bad president are revolution or magical panacea of the democratic party. I'm sure some of the latter persuasion think they're both the same thing.
Keep on fighting the man, man!
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Not only that, those words sound like they come straight out of some prescribed, remedial "Talking Points for Socialist/Activist Dummies" book.
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I personally think that the best solution to the current bad government is revolution, because they are not accurately counting votes anyway.
Do you have another suggestion?
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Along with every other movie, though, to be fair (Constantine, League, From Hell). Personally, I'm not sure if that says more about Hollywood, or Moore.
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I'm aware of this apparent contradiction, and this was exactly the intended meaning in my post. It is an insult; it is meant to be insulting, especially if to be insulting is to highlight the inconsistent views of the opponent.
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What actually happened is far better than the movie.
Ah, you were there?
Because our accounts of what "actually happened" are a little vague. Now, if you could just set some things straight in the Wikipedia entry... [wikipedia.org]
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Yeah. I gotta go lighter! I was coming down with the flu when I saw this - and got grumpier from there...
Still - the film seems to promote some fantasy about who the military/industrial elite are, and that there are individuals in those positions who can act singularly - out of conscience - for the benefit of humanity.
Tony Stark is like a comic book John Galt. I can't stand Ayn Rand, either
no but they did hire Halle Berry (Score:5, Funny)
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It means it was the subject of an Indian Musical film, my dear.
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Welcome to the world of dreams. (Score:2)
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