With the extremely heavy packs modern soldiers are expected to carry (upwards of 150 pounds), a robotic exoskeleton that provides support and improves mobility makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, these exoskeletons require a lot of power to function – power that has been provided in the past via gasoline engines or traditional lithium-ion batteries. Gas engines are noisy and stinky, and li-ion batteries run out in a few hours. Not good if you’re in the field and your exoskeleton runs out of juice while you’re carrying hundreds of pounds of gear.
This week Lockheed-Martin announced its Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) exoskeleton will be powered by fuel cells that will provide power for a full three days, along with charging other electronic gadgets, such as night vision goggles, electronic weapon sights, communications equipment, and so on. From The Register:
Rich Russell, Lockheed bigwig, describes this as a “whole system” approach. “With proper power management systems, the HULC can be used to recharge critical equipment while carrying heavy combat loads on an extended mission,” he says.
Stripping the batteries from a soldier or spec-ops trooper’s load would free up the entire mighty carrying capacity of the HULC for more attractive options such as armour, weapons etc. We here on the military crazytech desk have previously pointed out that remote-controlled powered gun mounts as light as 55lb can be had, able to handle various heavy weapons normally requiring a tripod or bipod for dismounted infantry use. These would be ideal for installation above a HULC-wearer’s shoulder, and easily set up so as to train the big gun to follow a head-mounted monocle pointing rig of some sort.
Other accessories already offered include an armour-plated “ballistic shield” to be mounted in front of a wearer’s body, or “heating or cooling systems, sensors and other custom attachments”.
(Via Engadget)