heinleinblog

Courtesy of this article about the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA):

One such DARPA effort – Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation – could transform today’s infantry “grunts” into high-tech supersoldiers similar to those imagined by Robert Heinlein’s 1959 science-fiction classic Starship Troopers. The $40 million program – already midway through its six-year run – is experimenting with power suits meant to increase by orders of magnitude the toughness and lethality of the average foot soldier.

DARPA’s plans call for the exoskeleton to be built around a “haptic interface,” a series of sensors distributed throughout the suit to read and amplify even the smallest of human muscle movements. According to the agency’s Web site, soldiers encased in this futuristic battle armor will be able to “handle more firepower, wear more ballistic protection, carry larger-caliber weapons and more ammunition, and carry supplies greater distances.” They might also be able to jump to extreme heights and even fly short distances. Peter Parker’s “spidey sense” is tingling just thinking about it.

The exoskeleton research has met with at least a few notable, if modest, successes. At the University of California (Berkeley) Human Engineering Laboratory, a team of researchers has built what might ultimately become the legs of tomorrow’s robo-warrior. According to the lab’s Web site, the “Lower Extremity Enhancer” gives its owner the “ability to carry weights on the order of 120 pounds over any sort of terrain for extended periods of time without undue effort.”