Date posted: 04/28/2008*
Raytheon Company’s newest research facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, is developing a robotic suit for the soldier of tomorrow. Known as the Exoskeleton, it’s essentially a wearable robot that amplifies its wearer’s strength, endurance, and agility. In its May issue, Popular Science magazine likens the Exoskeleton to the “Iron Man”® in the movie of the same name and suggests a blurring of the lines between science fiction and reality.
Built from a combination of sensors, actuators and controllers, the futuristic suit enables a user to easily carry a man on his back or lift 200 pounds several hundred times without tiring. Yet the suit, which is being developed for the U.S. Army, is also agile enough to let its wearer kick a soccer ball, punch a speed bag, and climb stairs and ramps with ease.
Dr. Stephen Jacobsen leads this project and the Raytheon Sarcos team. He feels his work is a combination of art, science, engineering and design. “People call it different things. Sometimes they call it inventing, sometimes they call it engineering. Sometimes they call it being a mad scientist. To us, it’s the process of getting together, understanding the problems, goals, and then designing something to satisfy the need.” Development of the Exoskeleton has been underway since 2000, when Jacobsen realized that if humans could work alongside robots, they should also be able to work inside robots.
Exoskeleton test engineer Rex Jameson echoes his boss’ enthusiasm for this work. “As far as software engineering goes, this job is about as good as it gets. We get to write programs and we see them working on actual robots; that’s very exciting.”
Jacobsen and his team take inspiration for their work from a wide variety of disparate sources, including popular culture. Asked if he will see the Iron Man movie when it’s released on May 2, he replied: “Yes, sure. I go to see all those movies. We all do. We all like them. They’re fun. They stimulate your imagination.”
www.raytheon.com/newsroom/...oskeleton/
Raytheon Company’s newest research facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, is developing a robotic suit for the soldier of tomorrow. Known as the Exoskeleton, it’s essentially a wearable robot that amplifies its wearer’s strength, endurance, and agility. In its May issue, Popular Science magazine likens the Exoskeleton to the “Iron Man”® in the movie of the same name and suggests a blurring of the lines between science fiction and reality.
Built from a combination of sensors, actuators and controllers, the futuristic suit enables a user to easily carry a man on his back or lift 200 pounds several hundred times without tiring. Yet the suit, which is being developed for the U.S. Army, is also agile enough to let its wearer kick a soccer ball, punch a speed bag, and climb stairs and ramps with ease.
Dr. Stephen Jacobsen leads this project and the Raytheon Sarcos team. He feels his work is a combination of art, science, engineering and design. “People call it different things. Sometimes they call it inventing, sometimes they call it engineering. Sometimes they call it being a mad scientist. To us, it’s the process of getting together, understanding the problems, goals, and then designing something to satisfy the need.” Development of the Exoskeleton has been underway since 2000, when Jacobsen realized that if humans could work alongside robots, they should also be able to work inside robots.
Exoskeleton test engineer Rex Jameson echoes his boss’ enthusiasm for this work. “As far as software engineering goes, this job is about as good as it gets. We get to write programs and we see them working on actual robots; that’s very exciting.”
Jacobsen and his team take inspiration for their work from a wide variety of disparate sources, including popular culture. Asked if he will see the Iron Man movie when it’s released on May 2, he replied: “Yes, sure. I go to see all those movies. We all do. We all like them. They’re fun. They stimulate your imagination.”
www.raytheon.com/newsroom/...oskeleton/
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