http://www.botjunkie.com/2009/04/13/cyberd...ion-costs-4200/

The HAL-5 is a Japanese exoskeleton capable of augmenting your strength by up to ten times. Of course, I would rather have a REX that the U.S. military is developing, but this thing is actually realistically priced. It's been slowly evolving over the years to it's present form, and I am giddy and excited that it's only a matter of a few years before their mass production expands enough to start selling these things to the general public in the United States. The later versions will have more than 5 hours of battery life and doubtless have other improvements.

START SAVING UP!

It's only a matter of time before they start producing these...



=/

That is freaking awsome, I want one

This would be epic. I'd pretend to be a super-hero and save people from being crushed under cars.

:D

See by the time i am 250 years old I want an exoskeleton with a microfusion reactor in it that provides me with energy so i dont have to eat, can lift 5 tons boulders, and lets me jump really far and live in oxygen free environments.

It'd be awesome to have one of those lying around the house.

Will probably remain impractical for a loooooooooooooooooooooooong time.

*But hey, this one isn't too bulky..

How would being 10 times as strong be impractical? Or being able to run twice as fast? Please explain how having strength beyond the normal human capacity is impractical, because I'm not getting it at all. Sometimes I wonder what they put in the water in Canada...oh wait, your government controls your water doesn't it? They probably have over-dosed on the flouride and your brain is becoming paste.

Give it up for big internet tough guy Mcharger on the keyboard people

They have trouble operating in hot/cold climates and batteries still need to be replaced after awhile, they break down like everything else, even easier.
Besides, tell me exactly what your going to do with it. Even in the military we all know that good training and agility is what's needed. Any bullet would make you clunky target practice, if you aren't already dead from being too slow. Tanks already do their role anyway.

Hydraulic fluid and lithium batteries don't grow on trees either.

*Takes a bow*
Now everybody, be sure to give SgtGumbo his government milk money...

It would be good for carrying in groceries. It'd also be good if you were moving and had a lot of boxes to move. I agree not everyone is going to have one but it would be worth the cash if you do a lot of around the house activites. My grandma always moves her furniture around and she hates asking for help, she would greatly benefit from this. I'd say it would save on visits to chiropractor but you probably could go there without spending an arm and a leg anyway.

Of course, there is always the novelty factor, in itself would be enough for a lot of rich people.

So basically I can basically lift up to a ton of weight with this?

The cost.

Now I just need an oversized suit to cover up the bulky exoskeleton, and I'll be on my way to impressing the ladies.

"Hey baby lets go back to my place, hop on my back I'll carry you. Yeah it's much quicker to run"

Exoskeletons are actually very practical. Current iterations in development for the U.S. military are actually rather light for what they can do and do not hinder your movements very much. As an example, the Exohiker weighs 35 pounds, is a full leg exoskeleton that can carry effectively up to 200 pound loads. It can also be folded into stowage as a backpack.

Considering this model is only $4,000, that's not that much. Beyond military use, these can be useful for helping people who are disabled walk and move around. This is a major step forward in medical science as well, now robotic legs can be effectively used to allow people to walk.

The HAL-5 can also walk without any input from the user. Meaning, if you are disabled, it can automatically go through the motions required to walk, as a human would, without you actually having to do anything. Pretty good for rehabilitation I would say.

But let's face it, the real reason we all want one is to walk into school/work one day and act like superhero's. Imagine building a master chief prop armor suit over this exoskeleton. That way, not only do you look awesome at conventions, but it actually functions too. How many people can say, "yeah, my master chief armor works!"

The awesomeness of any superpower usually comes from it's rarity, once this is freely accessible it loses a lot of cool factor.

Also, you see an awesome exoskeleton and the first thing you think is Master Chef. What the hell?

Iron man's suit is bullshit. Master Chief's suit is more realistic. Except that we will have something like it within the next several decades, not 500 friggen years.

Master Chief has augmented strength via the suit, but it's a more realistic representation of what a military exoskeleton would allow you to do. Jump higher, run faster, lift heavier, but nothing extreme. You would be able to carry larger weapons, like Master Chief can duel wield, and has practically no felt recoil from small arms. In that same vein, a real life military exoskeleton, like the Rex, would allow soldiers to carry weapons and armor normally used only on vehicles. That would make soldiers wearing such suits capable of being armored to a high enough degree to withstand small arms fire with ease (vs just getting a huge bruise and surviving a single shot) as well as carrying heavy weapons. Say, a 20mm automatic cannon.

Well the problem is that as soon as you make armor supposedly able to take direct bullet shots, bigger guns pop-up everywhere. It costs far more to make armor than to make a better gun.

Hell AK's go through everything.

I was ranting more about Master Chief and Halo in general becoming more iconic than an character that's been around for 40 years.

THIS IS NOT THE NOAH'S ARK THREAD.

He posted something cool, can't we all just say "ooooo" and "ahhh" and "shiny"?

Good times... good times... Although, I don't see how the two are related.

Well anyways, I think it's pretty cool for civilian use and all. It'd be pretty helpful, and like mentioned before, improve other's lives.

Aw man... I could afford this... I don't know what to do.

It's funny because I could currently buy this, but I think the shipping cost would put it above my price range.

Really now? So an AK can shoot through this?



Edit: Please read the "Combat History" section of this wiki article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Abrams#Combat_history




That comment only proves your ignorance on the military subject. Stop playing Call of Duty and smell the coffee, the USA's military technology is far more advanced than you think it is.

Ok what.

I was obviously exagerating when I said it goes through "everything"

Are you suggesting that soldiers start wearing M1A1's for armour?


My point is that even cheap guns have the firepower to go through virtually any armour that a soldier can carry. And if not, a bigger gun would be made in no time.


Do you think the US army would actually pay for that? M16's have a reputation for being one of the worst guns in proportion of standards to ever be given to an army. Once they start equiping soldiers with better equipment (like blast armour and guns that don't jam in the wind) MAYBE I will be convinced.

There's also the potential to use them for crime. Once your 10 x stronger, robbing people would be a breeze.

Oh man, they need to make a cool-aid guy mech suit .

I'd bash through walls like woah

So... This will help me, a fat, lazy person, become... Superfatlazymanwhorunsatreallyfastspeedsandcarriescarsman? SWEET! I'm so totally saving up for one... Perhaps I'll use it to replace my first car.

Ironman > Master Chief.

Just sayin'.

On topic: Powered suits? Coolio.

Once again, you don't know what your talking about. First off, the US Army hardly uses the M16 anymore, most soliders use the M4-Carbine, a more powerful, more accurate, and more reliable weapon that LOOKS like an M16. The US Army is the most well-funded military force in the world, we buy jets that cost about the same as the budget of most African countries for God's sake, $4,000 is nothing to our military.

Second off, AK-47's may be cheap, but the ammunition that goes through armoured plating on like lets say, the side of a Humvee or even a normal car costs a lot more than an average 45 caliber bullet, and you can't simply waltz into Iraq and buy an AK or armoured piercing bullets, because most of the bullets are made in the USA and are accounted for and all of the AK's are made in Russia and are checked by both the Russians and Americans to make sure they don't end up in the wrong hands. The only reason AK's are avaliable at all is because the Soviets left large weapon depots behind when they withdrew from Afghanistan during the 80's, and they've been around since then. It's not like there's an AK-47 factory in Iraq churning out weapons to kill Americans.

Finally, it wouldn't be that hard to armour soliders in M1A1 Armour once more powerful suits come out. That's the whole point, but I guess unless I spell it out for you, you just don't get it.

Yes, and projected particle beam weaponry is already being developed. So you are right. The problem, however, is that the nations which would have access to such weaponry, are all not going to go to war with the United States (they would lose even if we took casualties). The enemy of the U.S. in the 21st century uses outdated, 20th century weaponry and is only able to fight us using guerrilla tactics. If this armor can stop small arms, then that is all that's necessary, because it's not like the terrorists overseas are going to be able to get anything but cheap AK's and RPG's. Their technology does not advance whilst ours does. And the main purpose of an exoskeleton on the battlefield would be to make life easier for our soldiers, make them more efficient, and protect them better by augmenting their natural abilities.


Also, I used to think the U.S. budget was huge too. I still do, but not AS huge as before because I realized that you have to account for the value of currency and what you can buy. It may cost many millions of dollars for an F-22, but a comparable jet might cost less overseas in, say, China where everything is cheaper. Resources are cheaper, labor is cheaper, manufacturing is cheaper=cheaper over all product. The value therefore comes not only from the cost of something as advanced as the F-22, but the fact that only the U.S. is capable of producing such technology, which obviously makes it more valuable in that sense. But when it comes to more standard-tech like assault rifles, equipment for troops, supplies, etc that aren't all that fancy, the Chinese or whomever else can build comparable stuff for less (thus smaller budget).

BUT STILL! NEARLY 1 TRILLION USD SPENT ON OUR MILITARY IN 2007!