The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: July 18, 2010

Official News page 5


REAL LIFE NEWS: US ARMY TRIALS EXOSKELETON

by Hazed

It's not a full combat armor like Heinlein's Starship Troopers wore, nor is it an Iron Man suit (it certainly can't fly), but the new exoskeleton being trialed by the US Army is intended to add strength and endurance, allowing soldiers to march and fight while carrying very heavy loads.

It's called the Human Universal Load Carrier, or Hulc. Nice acronym! It uses li-ion batteries to power hydraulically-driven titanium legs, matching its movements to those of the wearer with no other control inputs needed.

When a trooper needs to carry heavy equipment - weapons, ammo, supplies or whatever - it can be carried on his back or hung in front of him from various over-the-shoulder fittings, and the exoskeleton carries the weight rather than the soldier's body. A HULC wearer can easily carry 300lb of backpack and body armor and still walk, run, kneel and stand with ease.

There's also an add-on that extends the armor to the trooper's arms - a shoulder attachment with powered belts that allow heavy objects to be lifted.

The drawback is battery power - isn't it always with any mobile gadget? The li-ion batteries run flat after a few hours, and won't even last that long if the soldier runs or jogs. But the developers of the HULC, Lockheed, have hired military fuel-cell Protonex to develop a power pack which would not only last for days, but also allow a solider to plug in many other gadgets such as radios, nightsights, lasers and so on. And charge his mobile phone up, presumably.

You can read more about the HULC and see a picture here.


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