thedrifter
11-27-07, 11:28 AM
Marines: Give Us Exoskeletons, "Self-Aware" Robots
By Noah Shachtman November 26, 2007 | 9:39:00 AM
It's not just the military's geek contingent that's looking to build super-strength suits for the troops. The Marines -- some of them, at least -- want real-life exoskeletons, too.
A 2004 "universal needs statement," obtained by DANGER ROOM and signed Lt. Gen. Jan Huly -- then the Marines' Deputy Commandant for Plans, Policies, and Operations -- asks to "accelerate" the development of "self-powered, controllable, wearable exoskeletal machine system" that will "increase the speed, strength, and endurance of Marines."
"The enhanced mobility and load carrying capability provided by the MEPAC" -- that's short for "Marine Exoskeletal Performance Augmentation Capability" -- will eventually "allow Marines to individually carry more ballistic protection and heavy weaponry," the memo says.
The first uses of exoskeleton (in about 10 years, according to the document) would be in logistics units, to "complement smaller forklifts [and] overhead cranes." As the suits became more capable, Marines might wear 'em to lug heavy crew-served weapons around.
"Still later, the MEPAC could evolve into an objective capability that stands alone as a computationally-self-aware machine, a fully sensing and interactive endoskeletal entity that has outgrown its practical need for unmitigated Marine contact, and can act constructively on its own."
Um, yikes.
Similar "needs statments" for high-tech equipment -- everything from bomb-resistant vehicles to lasers to spy drones to clean-power stations -- were eventually lost in the Pentagon bureaucracy. And this Marine push for a super-strength suit appears to have suffered a similar fate.
But other parts of the military continue to pursue exoskeletons. According to Pentagon budget documents, a project to build a "personal combat vehicle," allowing a soldier to "carry 150 pounds while feeling only a small part of the load" is making its way from the blue-sky technologists at Darpa to the Army's more practically-focused engineers.
Ellie
By Noah Shachtman November 26, 2007 | 9:39:00 AM
It's not just the military's geek contingent that's looking to build super-strength suits for the troops. The Marines -- some of them, at least -- want real-life exoskeletons, too.
A 2004 "universal needs statement," obtained by DANGER ROOM and signed Lt. Gen. Jan Huly -- then the Marines' Deputy Commandant for Plans, Policies, and Operations -- asks to "accelerate" the development of "self-powered, controllable, wearable exoskeletal machine system" that will "increase the speed, strength, and endurance of Marines."
"The enhanced mobility and load carrying capability provided by the MEPAC" -- that's short for "Marine Exoskeletal Performance Augmentation Capability" -- will eventually "allow Marines to individually carry more ballistic protection and heavy weaponry," the memo says.
The first uses of exoskeleton (in about 10 years, according to the document) would be in logistics units, to "complement smaller forklifts [and] overhead cranes." As the suits became more capable, Marines might wear 'em to lug heavy crew-served weapons around.
"Still later, the MEPAC could evolve into an objective capability that stands alone as a computationally-self-aware machine, a fully sensing and interactive endoskeletal entity that has outgrown its practical need for unmitigated Marine contact, and can act constructively on its own."
Um, yikes.
Similar "needs statments" for high-tech equipment -- everything from bomb-resistant vehicles to lasers to spy drones to clean-power stations -- were eventually lost in the Pentagon bureaucracy. And this Marine push for a super-strength suit appears to have suffered a similar fate.
But other parts of the military continue to pursue exoskeletons. According to Pentagon budget documents, a project to build a "personal combat vehicle," allowing a soldier to "carry 150 pounds while feeling only a small part of the load" is making its way from the blue-sky technologists at Darpa to the Army's more practically-focused engineers.
Ellie