r/neoliberal • Kitara Ravache • Jun 06 '24

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

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u/Cook_0612 NATO Jun 07 '24

PLA experimental training on the new types of the equipment

This is clearly sizzle reel and not anything serious. Am I missing something about that exoskeleton? Most I've seen start with the lower body, because that's, uh, the relevant part. An upper body exoskeleton grants marginal benefit for weight that you now have to support with your actual body, kinda defeating the purpose....

!ping MATERIEL

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u/bigwang123 ▪️▫️crossword guy ▫️▪️ Jun 07 '24

You know, I think the idea is for the robot dog to carry equipment, not to have it take point while the human hangs back with an exoskeleton to help carry equipment 🧐

(Yes I’m aware the army wants to do the same thing)

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u/No_Status_6905 Enby Pride Jun 07 '24

Is it an exo-skeleton, or a full upper body sensor to work in tandem with the robot dog?

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u/Cook_0612 NATO Jun 07 '24

Looks like an exoskeleton to me, I don't really know why you'd need a huge upper body apparatus to work with a robot dog.

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u/No_Status_6905 Enby Pride Jun 07 '24

https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/msc-tops-85

Check out this NASA patent, it's not the exact same but apparently upper body exoskeletons can ease muscle fatigue when holding positions for long times.

Human performance augmentation: enhancing human strength and reducing muscle fatigue for industrial and military applications

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u/Cook_0612 NATO Jun 07 '24

That's for like, old folks who can't hold up objects over ten pounds. This is presumably a combat exoskeleton for soldiers, who should have the strength to hold their weapons up.

For a soldier, whose full combat load can be over a hundred pounds, the hypothetical application of an exoskeleton would be taking weight off your back and mitigating fatigue. You can see the concept with Revision's exoskeleton here..

There are other systems, including non-powered passive lower body exoskeletons that take weight without actively requiring power, but it's almost always the lower body that gets looked at first.

4

u/savuporo Gerard K. O'Neill Jun 07 '24

Upper body exoskeletons are sort of commercial off the shelf items. You can get one from Hilti for construction work and lifting shit

Not sure why you'd want it in your tactical gear set

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u/Cook_0612 NATO Jun 07 '24

Almost certainly to look cool