The idea of soldiers waging war from inside of performance-enhancing exoskeletons is often dreamed about in science fiction — from the pages of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers to classic cartoons such as Exosquad. Now it looks like Sarcos, a robotics developer from Utah, is taking the concept one whirring, mechanized step further. When strapped in, a soldier is able to perform a variety of strength and endurance intensive actions without feeling much of the fatigue, as the frame mimics their movements and supplements them. Lifting several hundred pounds is a piece of cake, and the exoskeleton is agile enough to scale stairs and different grades of inclination.
Hopefully the final model won't have an unwieldy umbilical cord keeping the soldiers tethered to the spot. Sarcos has been working on its exoskeleton for six years and it says it will probably need another five before they get it to where it needs to be. Click on through to see the thing in action.
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