"Marines to Test Exoskeleton Suit That Can Do the Work" Topic

…of Up to 10 Troops

"The Marine Corps is moving ahead with plans to test a wearable robotic exoskeleton that conjures up images of that power-loader suit Ellen Ripley wore to take down a space monster in the movie "Aliens."

By the end of the year, the service will have a Guardian XO Alpha full-body robotic exoskeleton that allows one person to do the work of four to 10 people, depending on the task. The wearable suit can do hours of physical labor that would otherwise be impossible for a Marine to do alone, lifting and moving up to 200 pounds of gear repeatedly for eight hours straight…"

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Amicalement
Armand

Moving very slowly it seems, if they're just testing this now, since IIRC, this was announced years ago.

I've seen some brief tests, and it does look very promising.

Need to add on exo-armor, and come up with a robust, compact, and powerful system to power it, and we've got Battlesuits, or Combat Armor, like in Traveller. Can't wait.

Hardiman General Electrics 1971

Hardiman Wikipedia

DTIC search result for the hardiman prototype project

There are some interesting projects of Exoskeletons in construction and manufacturing and of course, for medical purposes.

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand

Exos are generally in pretty advanced development in the US. I've seen several varieties for both Logistics use and battlefield use.

The battlefield uses could be quite interesting, I suspect, assuming you can come up with a reliable and small power source with several hours of endurance (days of course would be better). For assault applications, even an hour of battery life might be workable in the interim.

I doubt we have the tech to do that though, currently, for a man-portable version, but perhaps I'm wrong.

Suits with lightweight metal, ceramic, or kevlar armor over an exo-skeleton frame would certainly be very useful for protecting the troops, and in high-threat environments. I suspect they'd help to negate small arms fire considerably, though explosives would still be a major threat to the wearer.