We were sold on (and slightly terrified of) the Sarcos XOS exoskeleton from the moment we first saw it show off its superhuman capabilities
on video late last year, but if you just can't get enough of it you'll definitely want to hit up the ever-dependable Popular Science, which has now totally blown things out with the full story behind the suit, complete with some great new pics of it. As if that wasn't enough, the piece also includes some tidbits about some of Sarcos' future plans, including word that the Army plans to begin field-testing the XOS by 2009, and that the company intends to kick off a new research program this summer tasked with developing a new generator that'll be capable of powering the suit for "hours at a time." Of course, there's plenty more in the six-page feature that we're unable to sum up here, so be sure to hit up the link below for the full story.
posted Apr 11th 2008 5:04PM
Awesome? Now tell me how to get my profile picture to work.
Click your name, and log in at your profile. You will then see a "profile picture" option. Then upload your avvie.
doesn't work. says it'll be updated in 5 mins. but never is. wasn't working before site update, isn't working after site update.
Hmm... What kind of picture you are trying to upload?
Be sure it is 64x64 pixels and JPEG.
My avvie is like that.
it's a 64x64 jpeg.
Have you tried it here?
http://www.blogsmith.com/profile/1896362/
woot! being an annoying bastard does pay off! thanks Tinu, that worked.
Hell, I just want to figure out who to contact if I forgot my login altogether.
what's the helmet for?
Dramatic effect.
It's in case there's a software bug and the machine decides you want to hit yourself in the face.
And yes, I'm being totally serious.
Huge balls FTW!
in the video theres some halo type mockups,
i want one of them because of that alone
now if only it can be slimmer smaller the you can walk like an android
http://bpnoy3.wordpress.com/
If you remember a post about hard disks in a competing blog, 250 GB hard disks were the size of a small bus 40 years ago, now we can put hundred times more in our everyday Ipod Nano's. Imagine that bulky exoskeleton in 20 years, it would be implanted under the epidermis.
I hope, for humanity end any pain of being disabled in our lifetime, even though we may have to sacrifice not having 3G Iphone for that.
i wish my ipod nano HAD a 250gb ...let alone hundreds of times that much storage.
oops, meant MB
not GB
@aytunc
uhhh, if you put an exoskeleton under the epidermis, then it kind of defeats the purpose of it being an EXOskeleton, doesn't it?
The scary thing with a suit that gives you super strength is if it malfunctions and decides you told it to spin your arm 360 degrees.
I had an itch on my nose, now I have no face. :(
Whoops!
I crushed my iPhone.
That's a serious issue. That's why it needs to be designed such that it physically can't do things like bend your arm the wrong way.
However, nothing prevents a software bug from, say, deciding to make you hit yourself in the face with superhuman strength. That's why the dude is wearing a helmet.
I imagine it must have a huge number of safety interlocks. I wonder if there's a scream sensor that shuts it down if the operator, you know, screams?
That article was just painful to read. They keep talking about Iron Man too much, and I was never a big fan.
Batman > Iron Man
Carmageddon > Batman > Iron Man
Agree completely. Give me the dirt on the XOS. Leave me alone with Iron Man.
XOS looks like it's pretty far from being actually useful...
Bomberman approves.
awesome, now my fat ass can join the army.
I don't really know if your fat butt can join the army alone...
:-D
(joke.)
It may let you lift heavy things...but does it impress chicks in the same way?
o yes o yes it does!
Can't wait to get one for bowling night. Two balls at once!
"Two balls at once!"
ewww
Does it play blu-ray?
Will it blend?
Does it play Doom?
I, for one, welcome our exoskeleton human-controlling overlords.
Is that the Mark 1?
Somehow the image of an old lady wearing one of these at Superstore scares me...
and...being an idiot i clicked the reply button for one post above, my bad =_=;
Nice! I could think of a thousand different uses with this. Taking in all the groceries at once is one of them.
Can I play Doom in it?
(Can I get a ruling on if that is an acceptable variant?)
the original isn't acceptable and neither are variants
FAIL
cool, but i'm waiting to buy a mechwarrior
well just put some armor on it and then get a gun and bam! instant mech
No, instant killdozer with legs
You mean a BattleMech, damnit! Mechwarriors are the pilot. And we don't have the neural interface to let the pilot handle balancing and reflexes yet, this is all based off muscular actions.
To quote a famous documentary:
"Get away from her you BITCH"
And... It's related to here how?
The documentary I am talking about is called "Aliens" and the quote is from the point where Ripley walks out in a military exoskeleton to do battle with the alien queen.
Very relevant.
damn she kills that momma alien good
remember the yellow cargorobots in alien 2 ?
they should build them for real!
can't imagine why it is not possible ...
way cooler than this toy :)
Crysis. =)
Question.....Why don't we have research in Mech's yet? I was watching the Anime series Gasaraki the other day. The practical use for a Mechs in urban warfare seems like it would be a powerful tool.
That was very Dwight.
I think this one from Japan looks WAY more advanced
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSP46lWvxJ4
developed by Cyberdine industries...
... we're all doomed
yea... until it moves when it wasn't supposed to move and they cancel the whole program.
LOL Sarcos is my family name =P
If you consider the future applications this has, it is limitless. Although you dont get the muscle training for using this exo-skeleton, but no matter how muc you train you can't lift what it can (well unless one of those bodybuilding champions lol). Imagine for the elderly having troubles doing their daily rountine chores, military apps, even as simple as for industrial purposes
What if they let people use these in the Olympics?
Then again, China would probably poison them with lead :)
Nice.
HAL-5 seems much more advanced, useful, and practical.
I can imagine some poor bugger wearing this working late thus being a bit sleepy then scratching his nuts.
In any industry involving heavy lifting these things will be a huge boon. And Hal-5 looks far better.
useless unless made of GUNDANIUM
TEST
TEST2
its easy to see how things will progress, first we get the exo suites on, but then we depend on them, they bioengineer them into us, but still we are limited, so finally, when your born, they put your brain in a robot.
part man. part machine. all cop.
This will be very useful in the future when battling a 2 story tall alien in a cargo bay of a space ship. Or when gunning down sentinels on a dock. Can't decide which I'd like to see first.
The suit is cool, but the focus on Iron Man was a bit much. Especially when the military has stated that they want to become more like the Mobile Infantry from Heinlein's Starship Troopers (the book that started the power armor genre.) Look it up on Wikipedia, a high-ranking Marine general stated that the Mobile Infantry is what the Corps needs to be in the future.
For those that have only seen the movie: In the book, the MI wore eight-foot tall suits of power-armor that let them lift literally tons of weight, protected them from all but anti-tank weaponry, had a jump system that let them 'bounce' over buildings and deploy from orbit, and carried weapons ranging from a 'flamer' that acts more like a variable-aperture plasma weapon, all the way to miniature nuclear warheads.
Typical Americans. What is crippling your efforts overseas is a desparate shortage of simple language and cultural skills (like being able to speak Arabic and understand who is and is not an insurgent) and also basic soldiering skills (like knowing how to deal with a situation other than calling in a 2000lb bomb on the nearest hut), but here you are making big toys as usual.