Talos And Other Non Chinese Powered Exoskeletons

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
NEW ARMY EXOSKELETON MAKES SOLDIERS' GUNSHOTS MORE ACCURATE


MAXFAS SYSTEM STABILIZES YOUR SHOOTING ARM WITH CABLES AND SENSORS

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Posted June 2, 2015



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U.S. Army MAXFAS exoskeleton

Daniel Baechle

Tester tries out the Army's shot-stabilizing exoskeleton

Soldiers of the future may all be crack shots. Not only are
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but the U.S. Army is developing an exoskeleton that automatically and effortlessly steadies a soldier’s firing arm.


There are of course, low-tech gun rests and other commercial devices for improving aim on the market, but the new Mobile Arm Exoskeleton for Firearm Aim Stabilization (MAXFAS) seeks to bring even more advanced technology to the process, actively sensing and canceling out even slight arm trembling, while also keeping the shooter’s arm free to point at different targets.

“Army soldiers have to be able to hit a target at over 300 yards away,” says Daniel Baechle, a mechanical engineer at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, Maryland, and one of MAXFAS’s creators. “That's more than three football fields put end-to-end. Prior to basic training, many soldiers have never tried to hit a target that far away.”

MAXFAS should help them get up to speed much more quickly. The system relies on a network of cables and sensors to detect movement, then pulls on the shooter's arm as if he or she were a marionette.



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MAXFAS model

Daniel Baechle

Braces equipped with accelerometers and gyroscopes are attached to the shooter’s forearm and upper arm with velcro straps. These sensors then detect the shooter’s minute arm movements and transfer the data to microchips, where computer algorithms distinguish the shooter’s involuntary tremors from his or her voluntary motions.

Once the electronics establish the frequency at which a shooter's arm is shaking back and forth, the exoskeleton's motors use six cables to hold the arm still. MAXFAS is made with carbon fiber composite materials that weigh just 10 ounces.

However, it’s still a stationary prototype whose motors are mounted on a large frame above the shooter. Future versions could incorporate lightweight motors in a backpack to make the exoskeleton mobile, Baechle says.

MAXFAS’s creators were inspired by existing arm-exoskeletons such as
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, which is designed to train stroke victims to use their arms again, and
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, which aims to help people living with trembling caused by Parkinson's disease.

In experiments, 15 volunteers mostly inexperienced at shooting wore MAXFAS and shot Airsoft pistols that were similar in weight to the standard Army issue Beretta M9. The researchers found 14 of the 15 shooters shot better while wearing MAXFAS than before it, with accuracy improving by 27 percent across the group on average.

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conference at Columbia University in New York.
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Eventually I wouldn't be surprised if it did. Right now its barely a infant in terms of technical development. Down the line if properly matured I imagine a system like this could be mated to the upper torso of a soldier allowing more stable aim and enhance upper body strength allowing use of heavier weapons to be more stable like sniper rifles and medium machine guns.
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
And now from down under.
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This is the Australian Defence Force's Take on Exoskeleton Technology
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on 21 Aug 2015 at 1:15PM


Exoskeleton technology — the use of an external wearable framework that augments a human’s natural physical ability — is one of the most interesting developments in modern military science. Like many other countries around the world, Australia is developing its own version.

Gizmodo has previously covered exoskeletons that can
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,
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and even
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— but if these technologies exist, why we aren’t seeing platoons of Iron Man-style super soldiers being deployed already?

“Most [exoskeletons] are complex, require power and increase the user’s energy cost,” explains Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), While electromechanical exoskeletons are great toys for scientists and bored billionaires, the military has generally not been enthusiastic to commit resources to them.

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First Steps
This is where DSTO’s Operations Exoskeleton (formerly known as the NoREx) comes in. It’s a a minimalist take on exoskeleton tech that could see action in the field within two years. Presenting the new design in Canberra this week, DSTO’s Tom Chapman explained his list of grievances with ‘traditional’ electro-mechanical exoskeletons, calling them “heavy, power hungry and awkward,” with joints that can never quite keep up with the complex range of motion for the human body. The way that most exoskeletons work today means that, while you may be able to lift ten times the weight you can normally lift, it also takes far more energy to do so.

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DSTO’s solution to this problem is radically different — and not least because its take on the exoskeleton is entirely non-powered. Instead of augmenting the wearer’s physical capabilities, the Operations Exoskeleton instead aims to reduce physical strain and with it the likelihood of injury or fatigue. If other military exoskeletons bring to mind science fiction’s beloved power suit, the DSTO’s take on it is closer to fictional tech that can make heavy burdens weightless — even without the advantage of zero gravity.

The Operations Exoskeleton can’t bear 100 per cent of the weight of a pack — yet. It’s currently closer to 66 per cent. That’s still a huge improvement to carrying that weight on our relatively flimsy human frames. Especially for an exoskeleton that allows a soldier to retain much of their natural mobility, needs no external power to run and weighs barely 3kg.

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Aussie soldiers can be required to carry more than 85kg into combat. Meanwhile, that suitcase you complain bitterly about lugging 500 metres to bag check at the airport is likely under 21kg, the standard weight limit for most airlines. This exoskeleton’s ability to ease more than 50kg of that weight is going to literally be a weight off our troop’s shoulders. The suit’s system of flexible cables work passively, transferring part of this carried weight directly to the ground.

It may not have the raw power of the
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, but the Operations Exoskeleton still manages to achieve high tech results with low tech concepts.

Don’t be surprised if this technology finds a multitude of civilian applications as well — backpackers or hikers who can’t bring themselves to travel light might find it particularly useful. The Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation only has a proof of concept at the moment and, as Chapman noted during the tech pitch Gizmodo attended, using it apparently feels “really weird”. The Operations Exoskeleton is one of the most functional exoskeleton designs currently being developed, so we’ll be watching the progress closely.
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The Ausie system is based on a soft exoskeleton base Like Warrior Web from Harvard.
perhaps I could compare it to more Batman then Ironman
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
The Department of Defense plans to unveil its Iron Man-style TALOS suit in 2018
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By Rick Stella

Published October 08, 2015
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1444311939062.jpg

Cast member Robert Downey Jr. poses for a photo with an Iron Man figure during a promotional event of the movie "Iron Man" April 6, 2013. (REUTERS/Jason Lee)

Taking a page directly out of Marvel's Iron Man franchise, the United States
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it's just two years away from debuting the innovative and futuristic Tactical Light Operator Suit, or TALOS. Designed to increase the strength, mobility, and (most of all) safety of Special Forces operatives and Navy SEALs, the TALOS is arguably one of the most technologically advanced pieces of military equipment ever concieved. Though it doesn't actually give its wearers Iron Man-like flying abilities, its laundry list of features are something no military personnel has yet had at their disposal on a battlefield.

Just two years ago in 2013, the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) partnered with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to engineer a next-generation, super-soldier style suit for military operators. According to Defense One, the team's early blueprint aimed to outfit the suit with full-body ballistic protection, integrated heating and cooling systems, 3D audio, embedded sensors and computers, and life-saving oxygen and hemorrhage controls -- among other advanced tech. After manufacturing the suit behind closed doors for nearly a year, President Barack Obama proclaimed the U.S. military was "building Iron Man."

Related Image
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Early TALOS prototype. (U.S. Army.)

"This is a program we started after we lost an operator on a mission. The first guy coming into a particular building was engaged and unfortunately was mortally wounded,"
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. "And in the wake of that, we asked ourselves, 'Couldn't we do better in terms of protecting him, of giving him a better advantage when he's at the most vulnerable point that we put our operators?'"

Related:
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Aside from TALOS' many characteristics, one such addition to the suit seems to be the direct solution to General Votel's plea to protect his operators. Manufactured by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SOCOM intends to outfit the TALOS with a revolutionary type of electrically-activated shield called liquid body armor. While wearing the suit, the operator simply triggers a magnetic or electrical current on the TALOS and the body armor transitions from liquid to solid in a matter of milliseconds.

We know what you're thinking, this tech is cool and all but how much is this thing going to cost? Well while the Defense Department has remained relatively coy on the subject, a 2014 article by
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reports SOCOM planned on funneling some $80 million into the research and development of TALOS. The article goes on to say defense industry officials believe hundreds of millions more dollars will inevitably be spent perfecting the technology before its put to use on a battlefield. Considering SOCOM rightfully intends to outfit the TALOS with the best available technology, this estimate doesn't seem far-fetched.

"It's a holistic system with open systems architecture, so if a new technology rises we can swap it in," a joint task force member states during an interview at Florida's MacDill Air Force base last January. "Survivability is our number-one tenet. We have to look not only at the integration of current systems for personal protective equipment, but also to augment the guy's motion."

Ambitious hardly comes close to describing SOCOM and DARPA's TALOS project, though Lieutenant Commander and SOCOM spokesperson Matt Allen maintains an available prototype will be ready by 2018. At that time, the Department of Defense plans to evaluate the manufactured prototype for effectiveness and operational impact. If tests prove successful, it's still unknown when an actual TALOS suit will see a real battlefield though one thing is clear, Iron Man lives and he's currently an intern for the Department of Defense.
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just a correction the "Early TALOS prototype. (U.S. Army.)" Is anything but.. It's a US army mock up called U.S. Army Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) projecting a possible vision of a warfighter for 2032.
 

strehl

Junior Member
Registered Member
It's always the little things that aren't obvious that you need to worry about. Put on all that protective hardware and you are going to get pretty hot. You need a tiny, lightweight, personal air conditioner. Something like this.
Stz026d.jpg
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Well pointed out strehl. The closest Exosuit to actual practical deployment I have covered here is the Revision Kenetic operations suit. Which features a liquid based climate control vest and I believe a small fan in the helmet. The vest circulates a chilled volume of fluid around the bodies torso to keep the core body temperature at a safe range and prevent heat exhaustion. This is a established technology in use since the first gulf war.
The small fan also chills the head and ensures a steady stream of air to the wearer.
In addition there is likely a camelbak style hydration system to allow regular access to water and if you note that the soldier base layers worn on the demo are light weight combat uniforms with moisture wicking fabrics and breathable materials.
 

Equation

Lieutenant General
What about the issue for cold weather environment? All those small cooling mechanics has to be rugged and adaptable to any environment as well as repelling moisture.
 
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