Speaking of Phil, he also has an interesting piece in Slate, Tomorrow’s Soldier Today – Robot soldiers! Bird-sized airplanes! The Phraselator! At DARPATech, the military shows off its coolest gadgets. Most noble is this:
In addition to building better machines, DARPA also wants to build better soldiers. American infantrymen since the Revolutionary War have griped about all the gear they have to carry—sometimes more than 100 pounds. Enter DARPA, with the idea of building an exoskeleton capable of supporting this weight and providing a powered system of robotic legs to help the soldier carry the load. Researchers from University of California at Berkeley are showing off their Lower Extremity Exoskeleton, which straps onto a soldier’s legs and lets him (or her) carry a load of 85 pounds without feeling it. The Berkeley team has tested it and plans to have a fully functional prototype by December 2005.
Of course, that’ll just give the Army an excuse to make soldiers carry more gear. . . .
