If you managed to catch Iron Man 2 in the cinemas over the last few weeks, then you might have wondered where you could get one of those cool metal suits, or at the very least wonder if the technology behind them is possible at all. The answer is that it’s not possible yet but in 50 years time, or possibly less, we could well see powered exoskeletons as part of our everyday lives.
The idea of exoskeletons isn’t exactly a new one, with attempts to mechanically enhance the human body kicking around since the 60s. The first real shot at producing a powered exoskeleton was carried out by General Electric and the United States government and the suit they produced, called the Hardiman, allowed the wearer to lift 110 kilos as if it were just four. Impressive stuff, but there was one tiny little drawback; the suit itself weighed in at a colossal 680 kilos and despite it being designed for full body movement, its engineers only ever managed to get one arm going. Predictably, plans to produce further suits were shelved.
Robotics and materials technologies have moved on a fair bit since then and exoskeletons are again becoming the subject of major research initiatives. The primary applications of this technology will be to treat disability and injury, with many researchers calling it wheelchair-replacement technology.
War Machine
Obviously the military potential of such a technology has been seen with the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the US, pumping over $50 million into the technology during the last five years. Military applications would see soldiers on the battlefield being able to carry heavier weapons and armour, run at speeds of 20 kilometres per hour and jump several metres in the air.
The most advanced of all the competing designs is the Hybrid Assisted Limb 5 (HAL5) from Japanese robotics company Cyberdyne. HAL5 is a fully wearable and mobile suit that allows users to lift 10 times their own weight. The suit works by reading the tiny electrical signals given off by your muscles via sensors woven in to the suit’s fabric. These signals are then read by the onboard computer that tells the suit servos how to mimic the user’s movement.
Other prototypes such as the Springwalker have allowed operators to move at 20kph and the BLEEX lower body exoskeleton has seen tests where a user can wear a 200lb backpack and move freely without any effort at all.
There are limitations regarding build materials and power sources that continue to hold back further advances in the field of robotics. There is also the sheer expense of the research, which has seen millions of dollars worth of investment only produce a handful of working prototypes.
Encouragingly, Cyberdyne has had such a good reception to their HAL5 suit that they will start to rent the next version of HAL out rehabilitation centres across Japan where they hope it will prove itself in real world applications. Hope for the future then, just don’t get your hopes up of pulling off your best Tony Stark impression any time soon.
Leo Stiles
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
