Heinlein style powered armor in our lifetimes (The Japanese show us the way)

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Aikibiker

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Japan ready to market "Robot Suit"

For now it is a medical device, but I wonder how long until the military starts sticking guns on it. I can see it now, soldiers running around the future's battlefields carrying .50BMG machineguns like we carry .22s.

*drifts away with the happy thoughts*
 
Aged or physically disabled. Heck! I'll take it now. Less sweat and if a gun can be mounted on it that is aimed by looking at an object, why not?
 
This is the first thing that poped in my head. From GI JOE the Cobra S.N.A.K.E.

[System:
Neutralizer -
Armed
Kloaking
Equipment

snake_iso_title.jpg
 
I wonder what the feedback system in the suit is, positive or negative. The other interesting info they could supply would be about sencor placement.

I have been doing theortical work on this for years based on commercially available equipment. The main problem I have always run into is a compact power supply.

Now if we could get a compact fusion generator! :D
 
Compact fusion generator? Ohhhh! A meltdown on your very back that doesn't entail cheese dripping over the hamburger.
 
I wonder if a hybrid using a small gas engine, as in a chainsaw or weed whacker would provide enough power. (too bad about all the folks keeling over indoore because of the C02, though :) )
 
Aztoy, COBRA!!!

Power supply shouldn't be much of a problem if the thing can give you the ability carry several hundred pounds with ease, just strap a midsize car engine to it and the hardest part becomes armoring the fuel supply so it isn't a danger in combat.
 
Extremely slow (2.5 MPH), and that's just for the legs. I'm thinking maybe 10 years out for a workable mil version.

(If one could get a compact enough power source...rail gun, baby. No point in carting around all that heavy ammo w/ limited utility, when one can penetrate heavy armor!)

John
 
I wonder if a hybrid using a small gas engine, as in a chainsaw or weed whacker would provide enough power. (too bad about all the folks keeling over indoore because of the C02, though)
Click to expand...

Propane-powered internal combustion engines are used indoors all the time – forklifts, floor-scrubbers, etc. Very little CO emissions. Fuel choice is the key.

For military use, perhaps some sort of "binary" fuel could be developed to power the engine – something with 2 separate parts that weren't particularly combustible until they were mixed together. Would keep an errant bullet from turning Our Hero into a roman candle...
 
Compact power sources wouldn't be the long-term problem with these devices/suits.

The problem would be shielding the heat and electronic signatures.

Smart ammo would home in on these clunky beasts.
 
Yeah, but would the ammo cost more than the suit?

You don't have to "beat" the enemy, just drain his resources...
 
Not really, artillery and air-deployed weapons are already designed to home in on various signatures/emissions/radiations.

Thermal imaging devices are already standard issue for many armies.

Aren't we set to deploy infantry 25mm smart munitions by 2015? Set these with new chipsets similiar to artillery proximity fuses set to detonate at electronic signature of powered armor. $25 per shell.
 
Well its about time...

The US had bio battlesuites back in the 60's, MIT (CALTech, etc...) had a working RD project (funded), down side why you never seen one is due to power unit required (size of a mid size diesel generator), now with the advent of small, man portable (backpack) diesel gensets you should be seeing these units within the next 3-6 years, maybe not as flashy as "Starship Trooper", but would interesting to see one walk up to a riot line.........
 
Molon Labe

Pronounced "Molon Lav ('a' as in 'Stick out your tounge and say ahhhh')"

It is from an old Greek battle where a commander used it. It literally translates to (IIRC): "Come and get them." We generally use it to refer to our guns to the gun-grabbers, and usually mean bullets first.
 
Dale Brown writes of something similar, albeit more fanciful in his recent books, like Wings of Fire. His heroes now have battle armour made of something he calls "fibersteel", which is light and flexible, but becomes enormously strong when electrified, to the point that it can take heavy machine gun fire and still protect the user.

A little ahead of its time, given that his older books had room-temperature superconductivity mentioned:rolleyes:
 
Actually, the dark fantasy novel I'm writing right now is unusual in that it beings at a late medieval/feudal level, but then a guy stumbles onto gunpowder...and things change. Look for "Battlescars of the Matriarchy" in 2006 or 2007, by Tam Thompson.
(Yes, I'm VERY optimistic. You have to be to get published these days!)

:)
 
For military use, perhaps some sort of "binary" fuel could be developed to power the engine – something with 2 separate parts that weren't particularly combustible until they were mixed together. Would keep an errant bullet from turning Our Hero into a roman candle...
Click to expand...
Actually, the military is looking into tiny (coupla pound) turboshafts turning electrical generators, typically burning diesel fuel for logistics reasons (and a given volume of diesel is much more compact than any propane). Diesel's not all that flammable compared to most fuels.
 
CWL,
Proximity fuses do not steer or guide weapons, just detonate them. Since this would be a ground pounder, "near surface burst" or "proximity" settings would work: but you still have to land the round near the target.

Missiles such as the Javelin might have a hard time hitting something barely larger than a man.
 
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