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Author:  tritonal [ 10 Mar 2004, 20:43 ]
Post subject: 
<i>Robotic Legs Could Produce Super Troops
Wed Mar 10, 4:40 PM ET Add Science - AP to My Yahoo!


By MICHELLE LOCKE, Associated Press Writer

BERKELEY, Calif. - Move over Bionic Man and make room for BLEEX — the Berkeley Lower Extremities Exoskeleton, with strap-on robotic legs designed to turn an ordinary human into a super strider.



Ultimately intended to help people like soldiers or firefighters carry heavy loads for long distances, these boots are made for marching.


"The design of this exoskeleton really benefits from human intellect and the strength of the machine," says Homayoon Kazerooni, who directs the Robotics and Human Engineering Laboratory at the University of California-Berkeley.


The exoskeleton consists of a pair of mechanical metal leg braces that include a power unit and a backpack-like frame. The braces are attached to a modified pair of Army boots and are also connected, although less rigidly, to the user's legs.


More than 40 sensors and hydraulic mechanisms function like a human nervous system, constantly calculating how to distribute the weight being borne and create a minimal load for the wearer.


"There is no joystick, no keyboard, no push button to drive the device," says Kazerooni, a professor of mechanical engineering. "The pilot becomes an integral part of the exoskeleton."


In lab experiments, says Kazerooni, testers have walked around in the 100-pound exoskeleton plus a 70-pound backpack and felt as if they were carrying just five pounds.


Eventually, the device could help rescuers haul heavy equipment up high-rise buildings or turn tired troops into striding super soldiers.


What it won't do is turn you into a Borg, the gadget-happy gladiators of "Star Trek" fame.


"The exoskeleton is not going to magically transform people into killing machines," says Kazerooni, known to his students as Professor Kaz. "They're really good, it turns out, at enabling firefighters, soldiers, post-disaster rescue crews to carry heavy loads over great distances for hours."


So, no cyborg cops. But at least you get Terminator togs.


Video of the BLEEX in action, which can be viewed at http://www.me.berkeley.edu/hel/bleex.htm, shows a steel-spiked symbiosis of man and machine, marching about to the techno-industrial drone of grinding motors. The next step for the BLEEX team is making the power source quieter and stronger and miniaturizing components.


BLEEX is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon (news - web sites) research and development arm, and was among the projects being showcased at a DARPA tech symposium this week in Anaheim.


The project is one of scores in the field of robotics, which ranges from industrial machines that assemble cars to orthotics, surgical devices that activate or supplement weakened limbs or functions.


Excitement about robotics was fanned by this week's DARPA-sponsored Mojave Desert race for fully autonomous vehicles, and the field is making strides worldwide.


In Japan, a leader in robot research, Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news) (news - web sites). has developed a child-shaped walking robot, known as Qrio, and Honda Motor Co. (news - web sites) has also developed a walking, talking humanoid robot. This spring, some Japanese companies plan to start marketing a "robot suit," a motorized, battery-operated device intended to help old and infirm people move around.


The current favorite in the DARPA race came out of Carnegie Mellon University, where professor Matthew Mason is working on intelligent robots including the Mobipulator, which uses its wheels to move things as well as for locomotion.


"There's just too much to do," says Mason. "Every time that there is an advance in computing, there are just so many more things that it becomes possible to do. Robotics is really about interfacing computers to the physical world so that their sensors give them a better concept of what's going on around them — they can make interesting things happen instead of just sitting there in their little beige boxes."

Kazerooni isn't offering test drives of the exoskeleton. But if he were, Mason would be interested.

"It looks really exciting," says Mason. "I'd like to try it on myself."


</i>
Author:  boomer [ 11 Mar 2004, 00:48 ]
Post subject: 
I just want that "loader" that Ripley had in Aliens! Be handy round the house for firewood and the improperly parked cars of neighbors :-)

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us". George Orwell

Fighting For Justice With Brains Of Steel !
<img src="http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/atengun2X.GIF" border=0>
Author:  30mike-mike [ 11 Mar 2004, 05:17 ]
Post subject: 
And not a word of credit to Dale Brown and his "Tin Man"!

I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect, therefore, I am perfect.
Author:  kingfrogger [ 11 Mar 2004, 07:25 ]
Post subject: 
"Oil can... o-i-l can..."

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” Benjamin Franklin, 1759
Author:  mattlott [ 11 Mar 2004, 08:52 ]
Post subject: 
God I wish I had one of these things when we had to carry the 350 ++ man down the stairs after a hard attack.

By the way father hood hit this week end, need a good night vision google manufacture and rifle for boy patrol figure I'll start early.

7 lbs 12 or 21 inches and good set of lungs
Author:  kingfrogger [ 11 Mar 2004, 09:48 ]
Post subject: 
AWESOME MATT!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Now we gotta get him either playing "army man" or flying something that has huge destructive capability...

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” Benjamin Franklin, 1759
Author:  kingfrogger [ 11 Mar 2004, 09:58 ]
Post subject: 
I can see it now... give these things 5-10 years to catch on, then we'll be seeing:

"<i>Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, uphold the law.</i>"

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” Benjamin Franklin, 1759
Author:  tritonal [ 11 Mar 2004, 12:32 ]
Post subject: 
<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>I can see it now... give these things 5-10 years to catch on, then we'll be seeing:

"Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, uphold the law."
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>



Makes me wonder if the enginners and designers are getting their ideas from watching 80's sci-fi movies.



<i>I still want my working X-wing fighter squadron. </i>
Author:  Hawg166 [ 11 Mar 2004, 12:56 ]
Post subject: 
30 Mike Mike you read my mind about the Dale Brown thing. Can I safely assume their is a EB-1C Megafortress prowling the skies somewhere ? <img src=icon_smile_question.gif border=0 align=middle>

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson
Author:  sgtgoose1 [ 11 Mar 2004, 13:14 ]
Post subject: 
I RATHER HAVE THE "OLDDOG!"(THE FLIGHT OF THE OLDDOG"
I READ THAT ENTIRE BOOK IN 1 DAY,I COULDNT PUT IT DOWN!!!!!!

THAT IS IN MY TOP 3 BOOKS OF ALL TIME

PLUS I CAN GET ALL HIS BOOKS ON CD

PRESS TO TEST
Author:  30mike-mike [ 11 Mar 2004, 13:20 ]
Post subject: 
Gives hope to all us "Old Dogs", eh, Goose?<img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle>

I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect, therefore, I am perfect.
Author:  Hawg166 [ 11 Mar 2004, 14:22 ]
Post subject: 
Hell yeah, maybe we can find a way to put some new skin on ya Goose. A new motor and hell youll be as good as new.

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson
Author:  mattlott [ 11 Mar 2004, 16:21 ]
Post subject: 
King she is a she. The rifle is chastied patrol.

catch you later need sleep.
Author:  boomer [ 11 Mar 2004, 22:05 ]
Post subject: 
hmmmm (old guy memory attack) I remember a movie starring Dean Martin (he was a singer for you young pups out there) starring as <i>Matt Helm</i> a sort of James Bond wannabe and in the movie some evil dude in South America(?) has a compound where guys were loading beer barrel type containers using what was basically and exo-skeleton. Was back in the mid 70s or earlier I think.

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us". George Orwell

Fighting For Justice With Brains Of Steel !
<img src="http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/atengun2X.GIF" border=0>
Author:  30mike-mike [ 12 Mar 2004, 05:23 ]
Post subject: 
There were 4 movies, of which I can remember 3: "The Silencers", "The Ambushers" and "The Wrecking Crew". I think the one you're talking about is, of course, the one I can't remember!<img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle>

I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect, therefore, I am perfect.
Author:  boomer [ 12 Mar 2004, 17:00 ]
Post subject: 
one was just called Matt Helm, I looked it up in my 10 year old Blockbuster movie book lol

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us". George Orwell

Fighting For Justice With Brains Of Steel !
<img src="http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/atengun2X.GIF" border=0>
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