Hello SCIE 300 bloggers and interested readers of Science.
My name is Bruce Wayne, winged crusader of the nigh—American billionaire, playboy, industrialist, and philanthropist. Let me just say that I am very excited that I can finally refer myself as Bruce Wayne from this day forward. Very cool.
Jumping right into the blog, remember the movie “Iron Man” in 2008? It is my favourite movie of 2008. It has action, special effects, Gwyneth Paltrow, terrorists, futuristic robot suits and explosions. Lots of big explosions. Very satisfying.
Fast forward to last Friday to when I am re-watching “Iron Man” and thinking to myself about the things I could do with a nuclear reaction-powered, plasma-blasting suit of battle armour in Camaro red with gold highlights. If only I had an Iron Man suit. How hard could it be to build one?
Image from thisischris.com
Of course I knew that it would be highly unlikely to build an exact working replica of what I saw in that film (reality can be disheartening). But after researching and googling (yes that is a word) different sources around the web, I was actually very surprised to see the amount of researching and development that has already gone into this field of research. To begin, the closest iteration of the “Iron Man” suit currently is what is called a human exoskeleton suit, which is essentially a wearable robot. The first exoskeleton suit was also built in the 1960’s by the US military. Nicknamed Hardiman it could amplify the user’s strength so that to emulate super-strength. However this suit was deemed a failure due to the fact that it could not be operated safely with a person inside of the suit because of its dangerously violent movements.
Image from David Szondy
Since Hardiman, a number of different companies and universities have produced their own version of the exoskeleton suit. Take for instance HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb). Created by Yoshiyuki Sankai of the University of Tsukuba, HAL is an exoskeleton suit capable of enhancing a user’s arm and leg strength by tenfold similar to Hardiman. Instead of being designed for military use however, it was designed for the more civilian function in mind. It is able to be used in rehabilitating disabled patients to move such as those with spinal cord injury. HAL can be also used in jobs that are physically demanding, for example construction work. The suit can be used in rescue missions as well where heavy lifting is required, but having heavy machinery is not practical such as working on a building with weak structural support.
Image from Cyberdine
And remember automotive company Honda’s Asimo? Now you too can walk and possibly dance like him with Honda’s Exoskeleton Legs which is a partial exoskeleton built only along the hips and legs. The design of the suit, particularly the saddle-like seat, allows for the transfer of the user’s weight to the exoskeleton to relieve the joints in the legs. It runs approximately for 3 hours; but that is only if the suit is not moving faster than about 4.5 kilometres an hour.
Video from youtube user: wiredautopia
There are a number of design issues and limitations that come with the current models of suits such as finding suitable power source. The source powering the exoskeleton must be able to sustain the suit for longer periods of time without overheating and must be small enough fit within the exoskeleton. Currently longest running time is only a few hours, which is why present-day research models are usually designed to be powered by an external power source. Another notable challenge the issue of joint flexibility. Several joints in the human body are termed “ball and socket joints” which are essentially joints that are capable of moving in several directions such as the hip or shoulder. For an exoskeleton to perfectly mimic those movements has proved to be quite difficult because of the nature of how exoskeletons fitted onto the user.
There are a lot of good that this area of research can bring. Aside from the idea of creating an “Iron Man” suit, this technology could essentially make life easier to live for those who are disabled or are elderly and those who work in areas heavy-lifting is prevalent, or perhaps those who want to enter the world of professional exoskeleton arm wrestling. Or possibly become Robocop?
Image from Kate Raynes-Goldie
If you want to read further here are some resources that you can check out:
- Marvel Science: Iron Man’s Armor
- Fantasy no more: Scientist’s develop real Iron Man suits
- Will Honda’s Exoskeleton turn the Elderly into Robocops?
- Research into Smart Therapeutic Exoskeleton
Oh I forgot I was Bruce Wayne, so I probably have an Iron Man suit hiding somewhere in the bat ca-.
