Super hero movies are all the rage these days.  Take a look at the swollen coffers of Marvel and DC and it will be apparent.  With such a vested interest in the super-human, it seems only natural that it would be brought to real life.  No, there has not been a revolutionary breakthrough in gene therapy (X-Men style), and nobody is as diesel as Batman, but the researchers over at Raytheon’s recent acquisition, Sarcos Lab, have set their sights on super-strength with the design of their XOS exoskeleton.  Capable of lifting over 200 pounds without the operator breaking a sweat, this DARPA funded meld of man and machine will make any Iron Man fanboy plotz.

We have featured other exoskeletons here on the Hub, but this one takes the cake.  The super-suit is being designed for the U.S. Army, where the plan is to turn soldiers into workhorses.  They would be able to lift hundreds of pounds of ammunition and cargo without feeling the slightest bit of strain, making the fast unloading of precious cargo take significantly less time.  The system is run by a computer that receives input from six pressure sensors located on the exoskeleton.  With that input, the computer can then determine which action the user is trying to do and tell the suit to mimic the action before the human actually exerts any force.  The user only feels the weight of his or her arms and not that of the object being lifted.

Currently, the suit is limited in terms of mobility because power and hydraulic pressure come from an external source.  The researchers at Sarcos have yet to develop a portable power source for the suit, but that is on the shortlist of improvements for future designs.  The first step for the researchers was to create an effortless shadowing system and, now that it has been accomplished, they are now moving onto the power problem.  Take a look at the video below to see the XOS suit work its magic.  It’s a few years old but, because of the classified nature of this project, there’s not much footage out there.

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