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5 Bionic Exoskeleton Suits of the Future

May 6, 2008

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NEXT: The Linux-Based Human iRobot: Hal 5

4. The Landwalker Exoskeleton

landwalker

Image via techfresh

At 3.4 meters tall and weighing in at 1000kg, this juggernaut looks like something out of Star Wars. It is in fact, a devilish mix of Japanese machinery and vision, from the robotics manufacturer Sakakibara-Kikai.

Unlike the UC Berkeley project, this exoskeleton is not anthropomorphic and not as intelligent. It sure looks cool though: it has a gun mounted on each side, which can currently only fire squishy pink balls, but given a bit of development time, this bad boy will scare the hell out of any soldiers on the battlefield. If you want to buy one, it’ll set you back 36 million yen, roughly US$345,000.

You can watch a test drive below

NEXT: The Linux-Based Human iRobot: Hal 5

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Comments

14 Responses to “5 Bionic Exoskeleton Suits of the Future”

  1. AvatarRob O.
    1

    It’s always really interesting to see how a pop culture reference can bring such sharp attention to these kinds of gems that have long since been hidden away in the dark recesses of research labs. Granted, work would surely have continued to progress on these sorts of projects without the release of “Iron Man,” but just look at how much new (or renewed) public interest there is in exoskeleteon development as a result of that movie.

    I know that these researchers have languished in obscurity for years, working on stuff that we’re only now getting tantalizing glimpses of, but still, the timing makes it feel like a “wag the dog” kinda setup.

    Reply to this comment.
  2. AvatarGreg
    2

    I agree with you and have thought that for years. The government along with the producers in hollywood have been doing this to the public to desensitize them.

    Reply to this comment.
  3. AvatarRob
    3

    Great roundup of the various exo skeletons around… the story has also been added at http://www.gearcult.com

    Reply to this comment.
  4. Avatarfunkdigital
    4

    The possibilities are intriguing.

    Reply to this comment.
  5. Avatargatzke
    5

    Hey, check it out.. He can walk! Got any footage of him doing 300Lb squats?

    Reply to this comment.
  6. Avatarwilliam hessian
    6

    excellent list of exo suits. for some reason i have zero confidence in the grizzly guy’s suit, although it looks amazing. The 4th one REX looks pretty impressive, I hope to see these things advance even more than this quickly. It seems that any progress is few and far between. Which is too bad.

    www.zombierobotfrosting.blogspot.com

    Reply to this comment.
  7. Avatard00d
    7
  8. AvatarHilary Albutt
    8

    Hmmmm its not a bad idea, but if the best two or three were to get together and have a suit that could lift itself, be bullet resistant and fire pink splodgy paint balls, now that I would pay to see!

    Reply to this comment.
  9. Avatarmike
    9

    so i dont get it… this will allow fat people to move?

    Reply to this comment.
  10. Avataraslam
    10

    Just what we need another fat-ass american who cant get around using his two legs.

    Reply to this comment.
  11. AvatarJames
    11

    So, I guess they’ve got past the problems where the earlier bionic suits snapped their operators bones then?

    Reply to this comment.
  12. AvatarHubbs
    12

    I for one welcome SkyNet as my new lord and master

    Reply to this comment.
  13. Avatardennis
    13

    all mechanical devices break down, have problems etc… you have to keep them up and if one breaks down on the battlefield you have to take it off and you cant carry the darn heavy thing to keep the enemy from getting it and reverse engineering it so what do you do? carry around enough c4 to destroy it before you leave…its utterly crazy to think something like this is practical… what do you do?….every army will have them eventually and you have to invent something else and so on just like everything else in war there will be no end to it and cost the taxpayers even more money.
    its just stupid.

    Reply to this comment.
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