Hey guys, sorry for the lack of post yesterday. Doing battle with a cold, got halfway through writing this sucker and took a nap, haha. Anyway, here it is!
Alrighty, so we've built ourselves a nifty exoskeleton at this point, but how do we drive it? Well, I'm going to mention it again at the beginning of this article, and I mentioned it again in the last article, but when getting into programming robotic interactions I cannot recommend Lego Mindstorms more highly. Seriously, it's a fantastic little creation system and you can really cut your teeth on it.
If you're not interested in Mindstorms, or you feel you've graduated past it, you might want to start looking into Arduino boards. What are Arduino boards, you say? Well, from their main introduction page... "Arduino is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more
of the physical world than your desktop computer. It's an open-source
physical computing platform based on a simple microcontroller board, and
a development environment for writing software for the board." Basically, a way for you to control motors and such in the physical world on a hobbyist budget, without requiring Lego pieces. They have a fantastic online community base, and tons of tutorials. On top of this, the system is compatible with Windows, Linux, and MacOS, and it completely open source, on the software AND hardware size. The boards are also quite affordable!
So we know we need a microcontroller. The Arduino is one option, there are other microcontroller options out there, but Arduino is really nice for the home hobbyist. So we've got out microcontroller for our motors and/or pistons, but how do we collect the information necessary to make them move properly? How do we tell our suit what to do?
First off, it's going to be difficult, just heading that one off at the pass. You're going to have a lot of trial and error. You're going to need to develop a program that not only reads the same electrical impulses your brain sends, but it will also need to recognize common patterns and predict what's going to happen next, in order to keep up with the speed your brain moves. Remember, your brain is a pattern-based computer. It doesn't just react to stimuli at a 1:1 ratio, it actively assesses situations, and makes predictions subconciously so it knows what muscles to prep next. This means when you're computing, you really need to develop a "learning" style algorithm to handle the data collected. You probably want to look into some basic artificial intelligence programming for this sort of thing.
And how do we collect the data for this program? Nowadays, most prosthetics and assistance devices use electrodes on the surface of the skin to read electrical impulses from the brain and feed them into a machine. In fact, here's a cool link about a new and unprecedentedly accurate prosthetic hand using such a system. Of course, we're going for total body coverage, most likely without someone helping us to put the suit on when we want to wear it, so taping on individual electrodes all over the body is somewhat unfeasible. I would recommend the Zero Suit Samus approach. That is, a skintight, flexible suit with the electrodes sewn into it at all the right contact points. This would be something you could make from scratch yourself, put on easily by yourself, and hook right into your central computer.
Finally, I would say you would probably want all of your central processing to take place on a laptop with some nice muscle, strapped most likely to your back inside the suit. This laptop could also handle the processing of your sensory magnification systems, which we're going to take a look at in our next post.
Keep in mind, people, all this stuff is somewhat theoretical, we're just beginning a "what if" journey here. Hopefully you're getting some good starting points, and understanding the scope of the project. Tomorrow we're going to look at sensory amplification and helmet systems, which should be fun, followed by our final post on the subject with armor and weaponry. I'll see you tomorrow! Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter, like the blog page on Facebook, and continue to be awesome.
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
How to Build A Power Suit and/or Powered Armor, Part 2: Physical Augmentation
Alrighty! So, we know what we're looking for in a power suit, and we know what the market has available right now. So let's drill down the basics of physical augmentation, how companies are accomplishing this now, and possible alternatives for the future, and for the home hobbyist.
What do we mean when we say "physical augmentation?" The first thing that comes to my mind, personally, is strength amplification. Enabling a person that can normally lift, say, 250 pounds, to lift something more like 500 pounds when wearing the suit. Now, most likely due to the nature of mechanics this would be a linear strength amplification, that is, the suit is capable of exerting a certain amount of power(in this case, 250 pounds), so if the same person could lift 400 pounds normally, the suit would bump them up to 650. Multiplicative would be bumping it to 800, but it's mechanically very difficult to do this. That said, adding an extra 250 to your bench press is amazing in itself, so we won't knock it.
The main goal of modern power suits thus far, however, has been focused mainly on endurance. This is for several reasons, the biggest of which is that we don't necessarily need soldiers in the field to be physically stronger, but we need them to be able to go longer with a moderately increased payload. More gear and endurance means better rested soldiers with more equipment at their disposal. This should not be brushed off, as Samus Aran or Master Chief would be in a bad way if, by the time they got to their destination, they were too pooped to fight.
Another element of physical augmentation is speed, maneuverability, and reaction time. Increase your leg strength, and you should be able to run faster and jump higher, theoretically. In order to stick to this idea with a powersuit, however, you need to maintain a good power to weight ratio. A power suit that put an extra 100 pounds of strength into your legs but weight 80 pounds itself isn't going to have that visible an effect. Conversely, if you can get the suit to put an extra 250 pounds of force into your legs, and it only weighs 80 pounds, well, you're gonna see a hell of a difference there. The other side of this is that you need speed in the exertion of this power. It's not going to do much for your vertical if you can put out that extra force, but only at a low velocity.
So where do we go here? The first thing any power suit is going to need is an exoskeleton. This is the framework you attach your mechanical muscles to, much like your own skeleton. Two major things need to be considered in the exoskeleton. Firstly, there's the issue of materials. You want your frame to be lightweight, but also strong. It's going to be taking a lot of angular forces. If you're on a budget, your options are probably steel stock for a nice sturdy frame, or, for less sturdy but more lightweight, aluminum stock. The nice thing about these options are that they're cheap, plentiful, and easy to work. Steel is quite easily weldable, if you have such skills, and both are easily machined in the home. Titanium is your third option, offering superior strength to aluminum, without as much weight at steel. One inch diameter, bar stock for aluminum, titanium, and stainless steel weighs about 1 pound, 1 1/2 pounds, or 2 1/2 pounds per foot, respectively. Titanium is stronger on a pound-for-pound basis than aluminum or steel, however it is a pain in the ass to work with, especially in a home environment. Stainless steel is strong, but heavy. I would honestly say our biggest contender here is aluminum. It's relatively easy to machine and work with, available enough for the home consumer, and not prohibitively expensive.
Now we come to our second issue: joints. Knee and elbow joints are easy enough to take care of, they only go one way. Shoulder and hip joints, however, are a pain in the ass. Because of the way they function, the best place for the mechanisms for the joint to be located are, unfortunately, inside your shoulder and hip. This, obviously, is not an option. Because of this, you're probably going to have to build the exoskeleton rather far off the body if you want full range of motion at these joints(see the XOS that we discussed in the previous post). Or, you can be creative, and try to come up with a new way of articulating these joints while still keeping the framework close to the body. Which brings us to our next hurdle...
Force generation.
How do we exert the power? Currently, all major manufacturers are utilizing powerful servo motors. These are similar to the motors you see in remote-control toys. Typically electric-powered, these motors activate on the major joins in the exoskeleton, driven by a computer processing the input from your body. They have their drawbacks, though. First of all, they are quite expensive. Second of all, they tend to be power-hungry, and third of all, they are rather poor at mimicking "real" organic movement. You can see this in the awkward slowness in the XOS' punching movements in the demo video.
So what other options do we have? There is hydraulics and pneumatics, firstly. Both of these are closer to mimicking the actual mechanics of muscles, however they have the drawback of being rather large and clunky, as well as typically being either rather slow(hydraulics), or requiring charging time with each use(pneumatics). Also, they tend to be rather binary, especially in the case of pneumatics(that is, they're more of an on-or-off kind of thing). This is not always the case, however, and I think, especially for the home hobbyist, that hydraulics could be an option. Basically you strap the parts for a lift gate or forkift on your arms and, goshdarnit, you can lift hundreds of pounds! Rather slowly, but still, the power function is there.
Finally, there is the fringe, future-tech kind of stuff. Electro-active polymers are currently being investigated for the purpose of artificial muscles. EAPs are materials that contract when an electrical current passes through them(similar to our own muscles). It is a burgeoning field that holds promise, but the concrete stuff exists mostly on the academic level. That said, the guy that discovered them back in the 1800s did so just by running an electric current through a rubber band, so home experimentation is a possibility. If you feel like being intrepid, take a look into this!
There's also pneumatic artificial muscles. These are nifty, and different from traditional hard-tube pneumatics in that they operate with flexible air-filled bladders. These look very promising as well, however you still need to conquer the air compression hurdle. Also, to operate in any kind of non-air situation(like underwater, or in a vacuum), you'd need to carry your own air tanks with you in addition to your compressor, adding to your weight requirements.
So, all this said and done, let's look at our possible options this far, going from cheap, junkyard robot, to futuristic space warrior.
Option 1:
Frame: Stainless Steel Exoskeleton
Joints: Mechanical hinges, no ball joint actuation at shoulders and hips
Force: Hydraulic muscles
Comments: The junkyard special! You're probably not going to get anywhere very quickly, and you're going to have a limited range of motion, but hey, you can probably lift a car! You can also probably construct most of this with a good solid base knowledge of welding and hydraulics.
Cost: $500-1000 (not including cost of the computer driving the mechanics)
Option 2:
Frame: Aircraft Aluminum Exoskeleton
Joints: Mechanical hinges at elbows and knees, ball joint actuators at shoulders and hips.
Force: Industrial Servos or Pneumatic Air Muscles
Comments: The home hobbyist with some money to burn! You'll get pretty damn good range of motion out of this(assuming your computing is good), and have solid power output as well. If you can figure out good joint mechanics for your ankles, then you can probably add to your sprinting and vertical, as well. Drawback is the issue with servo motors stated above, or the annoying "whooshing" sound you'll make every time you move if you use pneumatics.
Cost: $2500-10,000
Option 3:
Frame: Titanium-aluminum alloy, with carbon fiber reinforcement.
Joints: Mechanical hinges at elbows and knees, external ball joint mechanics at shoulders and hips to keep the exoskeleton close to the body.
Force: Elector-activated polymer muscles attached to carbon fiber tendons.
Comments: The space-warrior! I'm not even sure if this thing is theoretically possible currently(probably not). EAPs are still too experimental and have too short a range to really be considered for combat application yet. That said, if you could build this sucker, it's probably as close to video-game canon as you can get. Definitely something to shoot for! If you really want to work on something like this, you should probably look into getting a degree in robotics and going to work for Northrop-Grumman or something like that.
Cost: $50,000-??????
Okay, so that's a good start to our theory-crafting! I hope I gave you all some good starting points in your research. Tomorrow we're going to look at the computing system for our power suit, as well as sensory driven systems and maybe some other nifty stuff. If you guys are really serious about getting into this kind of thing, I'd recommend looking into Lego Mindstorms. It's a relatively cheap and easy-to-work-with robotics system, and holy crap, you can do some cool stuff with it. If you can build a lego arm that reacts in real-time to your own arm with some sensors strapped onto it, I'd say you're well on your way to a promising career in exoskeleton manufacturing. =P
See you tomorrow! And don't forget to go "like" the facebook page! Twelve more likes and we get a bonus character post on the weekend!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
What do we mean when we say "physical augmentation?" The first thing that comes to my mind, personally, is strength amplification. Enabling a person that can normally lift, say, 250 pounds, to lift something more like 500 pounds when wearing the suit. Now, most likely due to the nature of mechanics this would be a linear strength amplification, that is, the suit is capable of exerting a certain amount of power(in this case, 250 pounds), so if the same person could lift 400 pounds normally, the suit would bump them up to 650. Multiplicative would be bumping it to 800, but it's mechanically very difficult to do this. That said, adding an extra 250 to your bench press is amazing in itself, so we won't knock it.
The main goal of modern power suits thus far, however, has been focused mainly on endurance. This is for several reasons, the biggest of which is that we don't necessarily need soldiers in the field to be physically stronger, but we need them to be able to go longer with a moderately increased payload. More gear and endurance means better rested soldiers with more equipment at their disposal. This should not be brushed off, as Samus Aran or Master Chief would be in a bad way if, by the time they got to their destination, they were too pooped to fight.
Another element of physical augmentation is speed, maneuverability, and reaction time. Increase your leg strength, and you should be able to run faster and jump higher, theoretically. In order to stick to this idea with a powersuit, however, you need to maintain a good power to weight ratio. A power suit that put an extra 100 pounds of strength into your legs but weight 80 pounds itself isn't going to have that visible an effect. Conversely, if you can get the suit to put an extra 250 pounds of force into your legs, and it only weighs 80 pounds, well, you're gonna see a hell of a difference there. The other side of this is that you need speed in the exertion of this power. It's not going to do much for your vertical if you can put out that extra force, but only at a low velocity.
So where do we go here? The first thing any power suit is going to need is an exoskeleton. This is the framework you attach your mechanical muscles to, much like your own skeleton. Two major things need to be considered in the exoskeleton. Firstly, there's the issue of materials. You want your frame to be lightweight, but also strong. It's going to be taking a lot of angular forces. If you're on a budget, your options are probably steel stock for a nice sturdy frame, or, for less sturdy but more lightweight, aluminum stock. The nice thing about these options are that they're cheap, plentiful, and easy to work. Steel is quite easily weldable, if you have such skills, and both are easily machined in the home. Titanium is your third option, offering superior strength to aluminum, without as much weight at steel. One inch diameter, bar stock for aluminum, titanium, and stainless steel weighs about 1 pound, 1 1/2 pounds, or 2 1/2 pounds per foot, respectively. Titanium is stronger on a pound-for-pound basis than aluminum or steel, however it is a pain in the ass to work with, especially in a home environment. Stainless steel is strong, but heavy. I would honestly say our biggest contender here is aluminum. It's relatively easy to machine and work with, available enough for the home consumer, and not prohibitively expensive.
Now we come to our second issue: joints. Knee and elbow joints are easy enough to take care of, they only go one way. Shoulder and hip joints, however, are a pain in the ass. Because of the way they function, the best place for the mechanisms for the joint to be located are, unfortunately, inside your shoulder and hip. This, obviously, is not an option. Because of this, you're probably going to have to build the exoskeleton rather far off the body if you want full range of motion at these joints(see the XOS that we discussed in the previous post). Or, you can be creative, and try to come up with a new way of articulating these joints while still keeping the framework close to the body. Which brings us to our next hurdle...
Force generation.
How do we exert the power? Currently, all major manufacturers are utilizing powerful servo motors. These are similar to the motors you see in remote-control toys. Typically electric-powered, these motors activate on the major joins in the exoskeleton, driven by a computer processing the input from your body. They have their drawbacks, though. First of all, they are quite expensive. Second of all, they tend to be power-hungry, and third of all, they are rather poor at mimicking "real" organic movement. You can see this in the awkward slowness in the XOS' punching movements in the demo video.
So what other options do we have? There is hydraulics and pneumatics, firstly. Both of these are closer to mimicking the actual mechanics of muscles, however they have the drawback of being rather large and clunky, as well as typically being either rather slow(hydraulics), or requiring charging time with each use(pneumatics). Also, they tend to be rather binary, especially in the case of pneumatics(that is, they're more of an on-or-off kind of thing). This is not always the case, however, and I think, especially for the home hobbyist, that hydraulics could be an option. Basically you strap the parts for a lift gate or forkift on your arms and, goshdarnit, you can lift hundreds of pounds! Rather slowly, but still, the power function is there.
Finally, there is the fringe, future-tech kind of stuff. Electro-active polymers are currently being investigated for the purpose of artificial muscles. EAPs are materials that contract when an electrical current passes through them(similar to our own muscles). It is a burgeoning field that holds promise, but the concrete stuff exists mostly on the academic level. That said, the guy that discovered them back in the 1800s did so just by running an electric current through a rubber band, so home experimentation is a possibility. If you feel like being intrepid, take a look into this!
There's also pneumatic artificial muscles. These are nifty, and different from traditional hard-tube pneumatics in that they operate with flexible air-filled bladders. These look very promising as well, however you still need to conquer the air compression hurdle. Also, to operate in any kind of non-air situation(like underwater, or in a vacuum), you'd need to carry your own air tanks with you in addition to your compressor, adding to your weight requirements.
So, all this said and done, let's look at our possible options this far, going from cheap, junkyard robot, to futuristic space warrior.
Option 1:
Frame: Stainless Steel Exoskeleton
Joints: Mechanical hinges, no ball joint actuation at shoulders and hips
Force: Hydraulic muscles
Comments: The junkyard special! You're probably not going to get anywhere very quickly, and you're going to have a limited range of motion, but hey, you can probably lift a car! You can also probably construct most of this with a good solid base knowledge of welding and hydraulics.
Cost: $500-1000 (not including cost of the computer driving the mechanics)
Option 2:
Frame: Aircraft Aluminum Exoskeleton
Joints: Mechanical hinges at elbows and knees, ball joint actuators at shoulders and hips.
Force: Industrial Servos or Pneumatic Air Muscles
Comments: The home hobbyist with some money to burn! You'll get pretty damn good range of motion out of this(assuming your computing is good), and have solid power output as well. If you can figure out good joint mechanics for your ankles, then you can probably add to your sprinting and vertical, as well. Drawback is the issue with servo motors stated above, or the annoying "whooshing" sound you'll make every time you move if you use pneumatics.
Cost: $2500-10,000
Option 3:
Frame: Titanium-aluminum alloy, with carbon fiber reinforcement.
Joints: Mechanical hinges at elbows and knees, external ball joint mechanics at shoulders and hips to keep the exoskeleton close to the body.
Force: Elector-activated polymer muscles attached to carbon fiber tendons.
Comments: The space-warrior! I'm not even sure if this thing is theoretically possible currently(probably not). EAPs are still too experimental and have too short a range to really be considered for combat application yet. That said, if you could build this sucker, it's probably as close to video-game canon as you can get. Definitely something to shoot for! If you really want to work on something like this, you should probably look into getting a degree in robotics and going to work for Northrop-Grumman or something like that.
Cost: $50,000-??????
Okay, so that's a good start to our theory-crafting! I hope I gave you all some good starting points in your research. Tomorrow we're going to look at the computing system for our power suit, as well as sensory driven systems and maybe some other nifty stuff. If you guys are really serious about getting into this kind of thing, I'd recommend looking into Lego Mindstorms. It's a relatively cheap and easy-to-work-with robotics system, and holy crap, you can do some cool stuff with it. If you can build a lego arm that reacts in real-time to your own arm with some sensors strapped onto it, I'd say you're well on your way to a promising career in exoskeleton manufacturing. =P
See you tomorrow! And don't forget to go "like" the facebook page! Twelve more likes and we get a bonus character post on the weekend!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Monday, November 26, 2012
How to Build A Power Suit and/or Powered Armor, Part 1: The Basics
Hi guys! Soooo I know I said in the Samus Aran skills post that powered armor for private individuals is a bit far-fetched. But I know I've toyed around with the idea before, and you probably, have, too. So let's start taking a look at how we might go about such a thing. Keep in mind, this is all theoretical stuff, I'm not necessarily advocating you go out and spend tons of money on this! That said, most of us here are bright, young minds, so I'm not necessarily poo-pooing our chances, either! We'll probably be covering the different aspects of powersuits and powered armor for most of the week!
For starters, let's take a look at what most powered armor and powersuits feature across games, movies, and comic books:
The Trojan, by Troy Hurtubise
Troy Hurtubise is pretty well-known for constructing his series of bear-proof suits after an encounter with a grizzly bear. After building quite a few of these, he parley'd his knowledge into construction a suit of armor for military use. The result, the Trojan, honestly looks like it's from a video game. It's bullet-resistant, full-body protection, the helmet has solar-powered cooling fans, and it has bear mace mounter in one of the gauntlets. It doesn't amplify physical characteristics, but it's still pretty nifty.
HAL, by Tsukuba University and Cyberdyne(yes, they got their name from the movies)
Woohoo Japan! We knew you guys would come through! HAL is a series of partial(HAL 3) or full(HAL 5) exoskeletons for public use! Designed with disabled and elderly people in mind, HAL 5 is capable of amplifying a user's strength by up to five times! It's already in use in hospitals across Japan, and can be rented for the low, low price of $2000 a month! That said, amplifying strength is the only characteristic it fulfills, with no protection options, and I'm not able to find much about it working in athletic activities, like running and jumping. It would be interesting to see how it performs, though.
XOS 2 by Raytheon
The XOS 2 is a bit bulkier than HAL, and at the moment must be tethered to a power source, however, unlike HAL, it's being developed more for military purposes. It moves very fluidly, and greatly amplifies the wearer's strength. No armor or weapons systems on this one, either, but with the larged size and heavy duty construction, it's a bit easier to imagine. What if you combined this suit with the Trojan? Could be interesting...
HULC by Lockheed Martin
The main competitor to the XOS, the HULC is smaller, untethered, and also militarily-aimed. It is, however, lower-body only, and, again, doesn't feature any armor. Their main goal is amplifying carrying capacity and endurance for soldiers in the field.
ReWalk by Argo
Meant for medical use, the ReWalk is engineered with the idea of helping people who have severe walking impairments or paralyzation. Typically paired with a set of crutches, it provides full lower body support. While noble, and awesome, this probably least fits our goal qualifications for a powered combat suit. That said. it's another case study to consider.
So now we've taken a look at the contenders, let's theoretically build a franken-suit. Take the sleek design and portability of the HAL 5, add in the fluidity and combat-readiness of the XOS 2 and HULC, and slap on the full-body armor capabilities of the Trojan. Now we're getting somewhere! Full-body bullet and blast resistance, augmented strength and endurance, and personal air conditioning! Unfortunately, this suit would be extremely expensive to build, and require a lot of expertise. Let's take a look at the hurdles to overcome.
Control
Exoskeletons are, basically, robots being driven by your brain and/or nervous system. You need an on-board computer with at least some rudimentary AI to decipher whatever method you're using to communicate with the suit. The HAL 5, probably the most user-friendly of these suits, reads electrical impulses from sensors on your muscles, interprets them, and tells which motors to fire and how. This is not easy, though, and if you look up some videos of the early HAL prototypes you can see there was a lot of trial and error involved. You might want to look into Arduino boards, with possible hookup to a laptop with more detailed programming. If you don't know any programming or electrical engineering, Arduino boards are a great place to start, and there's a huge community for it.
Materials
Exoskeletons need to be lightweight yet sturdy. Typically titanium and other modern alloys are used in production, but these can be expensive and difficult to work with. For prototyping, you could probably go with some cheaper components like steel. These would be heavier, and possibly not as strong, but you could pick up a lot of the materials from your local junkyard, and they are relatively easy to machine.(I personally love to do home metal working with my Dremel). For armor, there's always BulletProofMe, however Troy Hurtubise came up with his own armor compounds, so you might want to look into that sort of thing.
Cost
I'm going to assume we're operating on a home hobbyist's budget, here, so cost is going to be an issue. You can cut some corners, using things like junkyards, salvaged parts, and craigslist, but you're still going to need to spend some coin. You're either going to have to look at a second job, rebudgeting yourself on your own job, or finding investors. This is not something to be underestimated, Troy bankrupted himself because of his projects, you don't want to end up in that situation if you can avoid it.
There's other hurdles as well, things like power sources and methods of augmentation, but we'll confront those issue-by-issue as we go through, today is just the overview write-up. I love talking about stuff like this so I look forward to the coming week, and I encourage you to post any questions or comments here, or on the Facebook page.
Tomorrow we'll be covering physical augmentation methods, both known and experimental. Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter, like the blog page on Facebook, and continue to be awesome.
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
For starters, let's take a look at what most powered armor and powersuits feature across games, movies, and comic books:
- Enhanced Protection from Harm
- Enhanced Physical Capabilities
- Enhanced Sensory Capabilities
- Enhanced Transportation/Mobility
- Futuristic On-Board Weaponry or Weapon Interfaces
- On-Board Computer(often voice activated)
The Trojan, by Troy Hurtubise
Troy Hurtubise is pretty well-known for constructing his series of bear-proof suits after an encounter with a grizzly bear. After building quite a few of these, he parley'd his knowledge into construction a suit of armor for military use. The result, the Trojan, honestly looks like it's from a video game. It's bullet-resistant, full-body protection, the helmet has solar-powered cooling fans, and it has bear mace mounter in one of the gauntlets. It doesn't amplify physical characteristics, but it's still pretty nifty.
HAL, by Tsukuba University and Cyberdyne(yes, they got their name from the movies)
Woohoo Japan! We knew you guys would come through! HAL is a series of partial(HAL 3) or full(HAL 5) exoskeletons for public use! Designed with disabled and elderly people in mind, HAL 5 is capable of amplifying a user's strength by up to five times! It's already in use in hospitals across Japan, and can be rented for the low, low price of $2000 a month! That said, amplifying strength is the only characteristic it fulfills, with no protection options, and I'm not able to find much about it working in athletic activities, like running and jumping. It would be interesting to see how it performs, though.
XOS 2 by Raytheon
The XOS 2 is a bit bulkier than HAL, and at the moment must be tethered to a power source, however, unlike HAL, it's being developed more for military purposes. It moves very fluidly, and greatly amplifies the wearer's strength. No armor or weapons systems on this one, either, but with the larged size and heavy duty construction, it's a bit easier to imagine. What if you combined this suit with the Trojan? Could be interesting...
HULC by Lockheed Martin
The main competitor to the XOS, the HULC is smaller, untethered, and also militarily-aimed. It is, however, lower-body only, and, again, doesn't feature any armor. Their main goal is amplifying carrying capacity and endurance for soldiers in the field.
ReWalk by Argo
Meant for medical use, the ReWalk is engineered with the idea of helping people who have severe walking impairments or paralyzation. Typically paired with a set of crutches, it provides full lower body support. While noble, and awesome, this probably least fits our goal qualifications for a powered combat suit. That said. it's another case study to consider.
So now we've taken a look at the contenders, let's theoretically build a franken-suit. Take the sleek design and portability of the HAL 5, add in the fluidity and combat-readiness of the XOS 2 and HULC, and slap on the full-body armor capabilities of the Trojan. Now we're getting somewhere! Full-body bullet and blast resistance, augmented strength and endurance, and personal air conditioning! Unfortunately, this suit would be extremely expensive to build, and require a lot of expertise. Let's take a look at the hurdles to overcome.
Control
Exoskeletons are, basically, robots being driven by your brain and/or nervous system. You need an on-board computer with at least some rudimentary AI to decipher whatever method you're using to communicate with the suit. The HAL 5, probably the most user-friendly of these suits, reads electrical impulses from sensors on your muscles, interprets them, and tells which motors to fire and how. This is not easy, though, and if you look up some videos of the early HAL prototypes you can see there was a lot of trial and error involved. You might want to look into Arduino boards, with possible hookup to a laptop with more detailed programming. If you don't know any programming or electrical engineering, Arduino boards are a great place to start, and there's a huge community for it.
Materials
Exoskeletons need to be lightweight yet sturdy. Typically titanium and other modern alloys are used in production, but these can be expensive and difficult to work with. For prototyping, you could probably go with some cheaper components like steel. These would be heavier, and possibly not as strong, but you could pick up a lot of the materials from your local junkyard, and they are relatively easy to machine.(I personally love to do home metal working with my Dremel). For armor, there's always BulletProofMe, however Troy Hurtubise came up with his own armor compounds, so you might want to look into that sort of thing.
Cost
I'm going to assume we're operating on a home hobbyist's budget, here, so cost is going to be an issue. You can cut some corners, using things like junkyards, salvaged parts, and craigslist, but you're still going to need to spend some coin. You're either going to have to look at a second job, rebudgeting yourself on your own job, or finding investors. This is not something to be underestimated, Troy bankrupted himself because of his projects, you don't want to end up in that situation if you can avoid it.
There's other hurdles as well, things like power sources and methods of augmentation, but we'll confront those issue-by-issue as we go through, today is just the overview write-up. I love talking about stuff like this so I look forward to the coming week, and I encourage you to post any questions or comments here, or on the Facebook page.
Tomorrow we'll be covering physical augmentation methods, both known and experimental. Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter, like the blog page on Facebook, and continue to be awesome.
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
The Samus Aran roundup!
Alrighty, we have finished up our foray into Samus Aran, let's take a look back!
But first, a bonus link!
Samus Aran vs. a Spartan II in "Haloid" by Monty Oum - Yeah, I know it's old, but it's still awesome.
Character Breakdown: Samus Aran
We outlined Samus as a character, and her background as a video game heroine.
The Samus Aran Workout
We put an emphasis on functional body management and solid endurance to keep our bounty hunter in shape!
The Skills of Samus Aran
We looked a bit into body armor and force multipliers with some high jump boots and bullet-resistant armor, and then different methods of exploration and situational awareness.
The Mind of Samus Aran
We examined solitude vs loneliness, and how sometimes hurt and guilt can drive us to push people away.
That's it for our armor-clad heroine. I will most likely not be posting for the rest of the week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but I will see you all next week with some cool new stuff! Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter, like the blog page on Facebook, and continue to be awesome.
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
But first, a bonus link!
Samus Aran vs. a Spartan II in "Haloid" by Monty Oum - Yeah, I know it's old, but it's still awesome.
Character Breakdown: Samus Aran
We outlined Samus as a character, and her background as a video game heroine.
The Samus Aran Workout
We put an emphasis on functional body management and solid endurance to keep our bounty hunter in shape!
The Skills of Samus Aran
We looked a bit into body armor and force multipliers with some high jump boots and bullet-resistant armor, and then different methods of exploration and situational awareness.
The Mind of Samus Aran
We examined solitude vs loneliness, and how sometimes hurt and guilt can drive us to push people away.
That's it for our armor-clad heroine. I will most likely not be posting for the rest of the week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but I will see you all next week with some cool new stuff! Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter, like the blog page on Facebook, and continue to be awesome.
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
The Mind of Samus Aran
Sorry about the lack of post yesterday, guys, some family stuff came up again. Seems November is the month for that sort of thing.
Anyhoo, let's peer into the mind of the unparalleled bounty hunter, Samus Aran! What makes her tick? What goes on inside her head? It's somewhat tough to get a true bead on this, due to her somewhat lacking in-game dialogue and introspection. We can pick up some bits and pieces from some of the games, though, like the intro to Super Metroid, the ongoing storyline and epilogue in Metroid Fusion, the bits and pieces in Metroid Prime 3 and Zero Mission, and, yes, even the immature and stilted storyline of Other M. Warning: Spoilers ahead!
First off, Samus is, for the most part, a loner. This does not necessarily mean she is lonely, however she does spend a lot of her time in solitude and/or self imposed exile. We know she experienced great loss in the form of her CO, Adam Malkovich, dying to save her life. We also know that she is not completely cold or ruthless, either, evidenced by her sparing the baby metroid that imprinted upon her. She experienced loss, again, when this baby went on to sacrifice itself to save her life against Mother Brain. Early in her life, she lost her parents to the Space Pirates led by Ridley, and that she later lost her mentors in the Chozo when their race went extinct.
It is quite possible the Samus willingly subjects herself to isolation due to all of this loss. Allowing yourself to be close to someone and having them taken away from you again and again can be painful. Sometimes solitude is not loneliness, but rather, a method of collecting oneself and regaining your footing. Samus is obviously a strong, determined, and resourceful woman, capable of taking care of herself in dangerous situations. However, it can be difficult to be so strong and not be able to save the people you care about.
The other emotion Samus may be dealing with from these losses is guilt. Most of those close to her that she has lost sacrificed themselves to save her life. In this, her relative solitude and reticence to work with other organizations may stem from a feeling of responsibility for others' deaths. In this sense, her isolation is most definitely unhealthy in the long term, as self-imposed guilt for others' actions is toxic when not dealt with.
What do we take from this, then? Well, I have experienced some loss in my life, probably not as much as others, but enough to know that withdrawing within yourself is a perfectly normal reaction, for a time. There is nothing inherently wrong with needing time for yourself. However, you need to eventually accept loss, and surpass your own boundaries to come out of your shell, again. A healthy life can be lived alone, but not if the motivation is pain of loss, fear of being close to people again, or guilt over past deeds. If you find yourself feeling these emotions, I urge you to take the time to have a conversation with yourself, and figure out where your motivations for isolationism come from.
There's a whole world of great people out there that want to get to know you, and you should get to know them, as well. Spending time alone with yourself is fine, but don't forget, humans are social creatures. Don't spend your whole life lost inside yourself, reach out to other people. You'll be pleasantly surprised with the outcome. =)
That's it for today, I'll see you all tomorrow. Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter, like the blog page on Facebook, and continue to be awesome.
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Anyhoo, let's peer into the mind of the unparalleled bounty hunter, Samus Aran! What makes her tick? What goes on inside her head? It's somewhat tough to get a true bead on this, due to her somewhat lacking in-game dialogue and introspection. We can pick up some bits and pieces from some of the games, though, like the intro to Super Metroid, the ongoing storyline and epilogue in Metroid Fusion, the bits and pieces in Metroid Prime 3 and Zero Mission, and, yes, even the immature and stilted storyline of Other M. Warning: Spoilers ahead!
First off, Samus is, for the most part, a loner. This does not necessarily mean she is lonely, however she does spend a lot of her time in solitude and/or self imposed exile. We know she experienced great loss in the form of her CO, Adam Malkovich, dying to save her life. We also know that she is not completely cold or ruthless, either, evidenced by her sparing the baby metroid that imprinted upon her. She experienced loss, again, when this baby went on to sacrifice itself to save her life against Mother Brain. Early in her life, she lost her parents to the Space Pirates led by Ridley, and that she later lost her mentors in the Chozo when their race went extinct.
It is quite possible the Samus willingly subjects herself to isolation due to all of this loss. Allowing yourself to be close to someone and having them taken away from you again and again can be painful. Sometimes solitude is not loneliness, but rather, a method of collecting oneself and regaining your footing. Samus is obviously a strong, determined, and resourceful woman, capable of taking care of herself in dangerous situations. However, it can be difficult to be so strong and not be able to save the people you care about.
The other emotion Samus may be dealing with from these losses is guilt. Most of those close to her that she has lost sacrificed themselves to save her life. In this, her relative solitude and reticence to work with other organizations may stem from a feeling of responsibility for others' deaths. In this sense, her isolation is most definitely unhealthy in the long term, as self-imposed guilt for others' actions is toxic when not dealt with.
What do we take from this, then? Well, I have experienced some loss in my life, probably not as much as others, but enough to know that withdrawing within yourself is a perfectly normal reaction, for a time. There is nothing inherently wrong with needing time for yourself. However, you need to eventually accept loss, and surpass your own boundaries to come out of your shell, again. A healthy life can be lived alone, but not if the motivation is pain of loss, fear of being close to people again, or guilt over past deeds. If you find yourself feeling these emotions, I urge you to take the time to have a conversation with yourself, and figure out where your motivations for isolationism come from.
There's a whole world of great people out there that want to get to know you, and you should get to know them, as well. Spending time alone with yourself is fine, but don't forget, humans are social creatures. Don't spend your whole life lost inside yourself, reach out to other people. You'll be pleasantly surprised with the outcome. =)
That's it for today, I'll see you all tomorrow. Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter, like the blog page on Facebook, and continue to be awesome.
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Sunday, November 18, 2012
The Skills of Samus Aran
Okay, so the first thing we think of when we think of Samus Aran is a totally kickass armcannon-equipped powersuit. Let's be honest, if you're a fan of the series, you've probably had the thought, at least once or twice, of what it would be like to have such hardware at your disposal. Well, the good news is, several different entities are developing powered armor or exoskeletons! The bad news is...they're usually either military-grade, or prohibitively expensive. They also don't exactly fulfill the fantasy of super-people yet, they're more geared towards restoring mobility to paralyzed people, or making it easier for soldiers to carry and move heavy gear loads.(EDIT: I decided to tackle the idea of a home-built powersuit, just for the heck of it. Check out the first post in the series here)
So what's a wannabe power armor user to do? Well, there are some cool "force multiplier" type devices out there for the amateur augmented human.
The first is jumping stilts. Marketed under brand names such as "Poweriser," "Air-Trekkers," or "PowerStriders," jumping stilts enable you to run at 20 MPH, or jump 10 feet in the air. A pair can cost anywhere between $100 and $500, depending on the model, which is pretty cheap considering how much powered exoskeletons can cost. I've never tried them myself(for money reasons, not lack of want), but they look like a lot of fun to me.
For armor, you can purchase body armor online relatively easily. My favorite ballistic protection site is BulletProofME. They offer affordable vests and body armor of all different ratings and sizes, for very affordable prices. They also have a lot of info on body armor. Something to keep in mind, however, is that there is no such thing as "bullet proof." Only bullet resistant. A vest can protect you from a shot or two, but the vest is then unsafe for continued use, and you're still going to end up with some bad bruising, even if the vest stops the bullet.
For arm-canons, that's tough. Samus' gun fires bolts of energy, electricity, plasma, or lava, depending on what upgrades you have and what game you're playing. I've linked before to the Prometheus Device, which is nifty. You could also start experimenting with magnetic rail and gauss guns, which fire projectiles, yes, but using magnetics and electricity rather than gunpowder. Of course, you could always just go learn to shoot a gun, which is a fine force multiplier itself and something I recommend everyone at least learn how to do. For that, you can check out local shooting ranges, or ask around at your local sports/outdoorsman store.
The other skill Samus Aran has that anyone can use and make use of is the art of exploration, and observation. The Metroid titles are all about exploring your surroundings, finding new upgrades and areas, and solving environment-based puzzles. If you want to be really intrepid, you can start learning about cartography, the art/science of mapping. It's really neat stuff. If you don't want to go that far, you can just learn about how to use/read maps, which is a skill in and of itself. You can also get into geocaching, which looks like TONS of fun for outdoorsy/exploring types. It's basically participating in a giant, GPS-based treasure hunt. Well worth your time. Urban exploration is also tons of fun, and a personal favorite of mine.
Really the spirit of Samus Aran is relying on your own devices and skills in unknown situations to overcome obstacles and reach new areas or goals. If you're creative, you can apply this to many situations in your life. Try to visit new places or try new things often. Be more aware of your surroundings when you go places, and see if you can spot things that people who aren't paying as close attention might miss. You can even make a game out of it, if you're with friends. Kind of like an open-ended version of "I Spy."
Give it a shot! This concludes our second weekend post(ever!). I'll see you all tomorrow, when we look at the mind and psychology of a space-bound bounty hunter! Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter, like the blog page on Facebook, and continue to be awesome.
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
So what's a wannabe power armor user to do? Well, there are some cool "force multiplier" type devices out there for the amateur augmented human.
The first is jumping stilts. Marketed under brand names such as "Poweriser," "Air-Trekkers," or "PowerStriders," jumping stilts enable you to run at 20 MPH, or jump 10 feet in the air. A pair can cost anywhere between $100 and $500, depending on the model, which is pretty cheap considering how much powered exoskeletons can cost. I've never tried them myself(for money reasons, not lack of want), but they look like a lot of fun to me.
For armor, you can purchase body armor online relatively easily. My favorite ballistic protection site is BulletProofME. They offer affordable vests and body armor of all different ratings and sizes, for very affordable prices. They also have a lot of info on body armor. Something to keep in mind, however, is that there is no such thing as "bullet proof." Only bullet resistant. A vest can protect you from a shot or two, but the vest is then unsafe for continued use, and you're still going to end up with some bad bruising, even if the vest stops the bullet.
For arm-canons, that's tough. Samus' gun fires bolts of energy, electricity, plasma, or lava, depending on what upgrades you have and what game you're playing. I've linked before to the Prometheus Device, which is nifty. You could also start experimenting with magnetic rail and gauss guns, which fire projectiles, yes, but using magnetics and electricity rather than gunpowder. Of course, you could always just go learn to shoot a gun, which is a fine force multiplier itself and something I recommend everyone at least learn how to do. For that, you can check out local shooting ranges, or ask around at your local sports/outdoorsman store.
The other skill Samus Aran has that anyone can use and make use of is the art of exploration, and observation. The Metroid titles are all about exploring your surroundings, finding new upgrades and areas, and solving environment-based puzzles. If you want to be really intrepid, you can start learning about cartography, the art/science of mapping. It's really neat stuff. If you don't want to go that far, you can just learn about how to use/read maps, which is a skill in and of itself. You can also get into geocaching, which looks like TONS of fun for outdoorsy/exploring types. It's basically participating in a giant, GPS-based treasure hunt. Well worth your time. Urban exploration is also tons of fun, and a personal favorite of mine.
Really the spirit of Samus Aran is relying on your own devices and skills in unknown situations to overcome obstacles and reach new areas or goals. If you're creative, you can apply this to many situations in your life. Try to visit new places or try new things often. Be more aware of your surroundings when you go places, and see if you can spot things that people who aren't paying as close attention might miss. You can even make a game out of it, if you're with friends. Kind of like an open-ended version of "I Spy."
Give it a shot! This concludes our second weekend post(ever!). I'll see you all tomorrow, when we look at the mind and psychology of a space-bound bounty hunter! Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter, like the blog page on Facebook, and continue to be awesome.
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Saturday, November 17, 2012
The Samus Aran Workout
Sorry for the two-day break, guys, my father-in-laws funeral
proceedings kind of took up my time. To make up for it, I'm posting
this today, Saturday, and you'll get another post tomorrow,
Sunday(weekend updates, whee!). Also, our current quest, Activate the Book of Faces, has stalled at 36 likes! We're sooo, close! Consider sharing the Facebook page or one of the blog post with your friends, so we can hit fifty, and get weekend updates next week, too!
Okay, so let's start with admitting something to ourselves here. Samus Aran is infused with both Chozo AND Metroid DNA. She is not completely human, and as such, she is capable of doing things that no human would be capable of, such as jumping twice her own height(without her power suit, as shown in Zero Mission), and other assorted physical feats. She does, however, still work off of a basic blueprint we can go with! Samus is 6'3", 198 lbs (1.9m, 90 kg for our metric friends), and is described as being in peak physical condition, with a somewhat slender, but well-muscled body. From his we can see she is not a bodybuilder, but rather focused on "functional" strength.
Samus had two different phases to her physical training in life. Her younger years(4-15 years old), she was raised and trained by the Chozo. They gave her Chozo DNA to boost her physical capabilities, but besides this, much of her training appeared to be gymnastic in nature. She was also taught physical combat moves, and acquainted with power suit mechanics. After this, she entered training in the Galactic Federation police branch, where she honed her shooting and combat skills. We're going to take the approach of practical, physical strength, which means maintaining a good power-to-weight ratio, as well as the cardiovascular health necessary to sustain prolonged combat.
Equipment Needed:
Chinup Bar(seriously, if you don't have one yet, get one)
Rings for Chinup Bar(I just got some heavy rope from the hardware store, looped it through two short lengths of PVC pipe, and hung it from the bar.
Strength Training
Level 1: Beginner
3x10 Chair-Assisted Pullups
3x10 Chair Dips
3x10 Hanging Ring Rows(resting butt on ground if needed)
3x10 Knee Pushups
3x20 Crunches
Level 2: Intermediate
3x10 Pullups
3x10 Chair-Assisted Ring Dips
3x10 Hanging Ring Rows (no butt)
3x10 Pushups
3x20 Twist Crunches
Level 3: Advanced
5x10 Pullups
5x10 Ring Dips
5x10 Hanging Ring Rows
5x10 Pushups
5x20 Bicycle Crunches
Level 4: Bounty Hunter
5x20 Pullups
5x20 Ring Dips
5x20 Hanging Ring Rows
5x20 Pushups
5x20 Leg-lift Twist Crunches
Cardio Training
Level 1: Beginner
30 Minutes Brisk Walking/Jogging
Level 2: Intermediate
A:
30 Minutes Running
B:
5x10 Burpees(no pushup)
Level 3: Advanced
A:
30 Minutes Running with 20 Second Sprints Every 4 Minutes
B:
5x10 Burpees(with pushup)
Level 4: Bounty Hunter
A:
30 Minutes Running with 30 Second Sprints Every 3 Minutes
5 Minutes Hill Sprints
B:
5x10 Burpees, with Pushup and Tuck Jump at the end. Do 40 jumping jacks in between each set(this is your rest period, you should have no break between jumping jacks and burpees)
Notes:
If you want to spice up the strength workout, you can try adding some weight to the exercises. Make sure you don't cheat on form or number of reps/sets to do so, though(start with a low weight). Strength training is every other day. Cardio is every day, but alternate between A/B workouts. I'd recommend the A workouts on the day you do strength training. Remember to always have at least one day of full rest between each strength workout, and have at least one day of complete rest(no cardio or strength) at least once a week, maybe twice if your body needs it(especially when first starting the program). If you get stuck between workout levels, go check out my recent write-up on clearing the workout plateau.
That's it for now! We have another post coming tomorrow, on the skills of Samus Aran, so make sure to check back then! Until then, keep being awesome!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Okay, so let's start with admitting something to ourselves here. Samus Aran is infused with both Chozo AND Metroid DNA. She is not completely human, and as such, she is capable of doing things that no human would be capable of, such as jumping twice her own height(without her power suit, as shown in Zero Mission), and other assorted physical feats. She does, however, still work off of a basic blueprint we can go with! Samus is 6'3", 198 lbs (1.9m, 90 kg for our metric friends), and is described as being in peak physical condition, with a somewhat slender, but well-muscled body. From his we can see she is not a bodybuilder, but rather focused on "functional" strength.
Samus had two different phases to her physical training in life. Her younger years(4-15 years old), she was raised and trained by the Chozo. They gave her Chozo DNA to boost her physical capabilities, but besides this, much of her training appeared to be gymnastic in nature. She was also taught physical combat moves, and acquainted with power suit mechanics. After this, she entered training in the Galactic Federation police branch, where she honed her shooting and combat skills. We're going to take the approach of practical, physical strength, which means maintaining a good power-to-weight ratio, as well as the cardiovascular health necessary to sustain prolonged combat.
Equipment Needed:
Chinup Bar(seriously, if you don't have one yet, get one)
Rings for Chinup Bar(I just got some heavy rope from the hardware store, looped it through two short lengths of PVC pipe, and hung it from the bar.
Strength Training
Level 1: Beginner
3x10 Chair-Assisted Pullups
3x10 Chair Dips
3x10 Hanging Ring Rows(resting butt on ground if needed)
3x10 Knee Pushups
3x20 Crunches
Level 2: Intermediate
3x10 Pullups
3x10 Chair-Assisted Ring Dips
3x10 Hanging Ring Rows (no butt)
3x10 Pushups
3x20 Twist Crunches
Level 3: Advanced
5x10 Pullups
5x10 Ring Dips
5x10 Hanging Ring Rows
5x10 Pushups
5x20 Bicycle Crunches
Level 4: Bounty Hunter
5x20 Pullups
5x20 Ring Dips
5x20 Hanging Ring Rows
5x20 Pushups
5x20 Leg-lift Twist Crunches
Cardio Training
Level 1: Beginner
30 Minutes Brisk Walking/Jogging
Level 2: Intermediate
A:
30 Minutes Running
B:
5x10 Burpees(no pushup)
Level 3: Advanced
A:
30 Minutes Running with 20 Second Sprints Every 4 Minutes
B:
5x10 Burpees(with pushup)
Level 4: Bounty Hunter
A:
30 Minutes Running with 30 Second Sprints Every 3 Minutes
5 Minutes Hill Sprints
B:
5x10 Burpees, with Pushup and Tuck Jump at the end. Do 40 jumping jacks in between each set(this is your rest period, you should have no break between jumping jacks and burpees)
Notes:
If you want to spice up the strength workout, you can try adding some weight to the exercises. Make sure you don't cheat on form or number of reps/sets to do so, though(start with a low weight). Strength training is every other day. Cardio is every day, but alternate between A/B workouts. I'd recommend the A workouts on the day you do strength training. Remember to always have at least one day of full rest between each strength workout, and have at least one day of complete rest(no cardio or strength) at least once a week, maybe twice if your body needs it(especially when first starting the program). If you get stuck between workout levels, go check out my recent write-up on clearing the workout plateau.
That's it for now! We have another post coming tomorrow, on the skills of Samus Aran, so make sure to check back then! Until then, keep being awesome!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
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