We have all seen the films like Robocop and Terminator, dreams of a far off future? It would seem the future of robotic engineering isnt quite as far off as we would have first anticipated. A group of military scientists have been working on light weight alluminium based suits called XOS.
This development in technology could mean wonders in and out of the military. Its primary funtcion at the mean time is the lifting of heavy objects. Out of the miliatry the functions for such a suit are nearly endless when dealing with heavy objects such as crates.
The XOS outer skeleton reacts to the drivers every motion and simultaneously. The agility depends entirely upon that of the driver however the strength and endurance of the suit far exceeds that of a any human. The suits enhanced strength is capable of lifting more than 90 kilos of an average humans weight.
Future hopes for the suit are that it will be adapted for combat situations perhaps to carry heavy weapons or carry injured. However the suit has still got a fair few technical issues that scientists have to sort out such as a mobile power supply, However they hope to have a rough prototype developed by the end fo next year, and models out in the field within 8 years. Who knows the limits for such technology? Flight? Missles? Force Fields?
Grant Snaith
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7351314.stm
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