Are bionic suits a thing of fantasy or the future?

This is Technology Bloggers 100th article!
Well done and thank you to our 16 fantastic writers who have made this possible. Also thanks to all our readers and commenters for your support.
Lets aim for 1,000 now!
πŸ™‚

So, to the article! Everyone has heard of Iron Man – well I would think they have. The idea that such a suit could become a reality, is well… fiction. Until now!

A technology company called Raytheon has developed an exoskeleton, designed to effectively act as a bionic/robotic suit. The suit is designed to perfectly mimic and aid human actions, so the wearer can feel normal whilst performing tasks that they could never achieve without the aid of the suit.


One way of thinking about how it feels is to think of the power steering in a car. Without the power steering it can be really tough to turn the wheel, activate the power steering however and the car still feels normal and responds in the same way, the difference is, minimal effort is required to do a rather demanding task.

Doing press-ups in a bionic suit with ease

Performing everyday tasks is easy when wearing a bionic exoskeleton!

The suite has the potential to be fitted with some sort of amour plating, to protect the individual form attack – assuming it were to be used in a war-zone, and not in industry! D3O could actually make it a pretty invincible suit!

The suite can help the wearer lift up to 17 times what they could normally life, making tasks 17 times easier! A massive positive is that it doesn’t restrict the wearers range of motion, meaning that they can more freely and normally.

There is a problem though. The suit has to be attached to an external power source, as it guzzles power like crazy. Current batteries are either too weak, or too dangerous. For example, lithium-ion batteries can’t be strapped to a human, as they are prone to explosion if they get damaged!

A lack of power makes the suit extremely heavy, meaning that every movement becomes more difficult. This means that if there is a loss of power, the suit is hindering, rather than helping the occupant.

Aside from the lack of power, the main difference between the suit Raytheon have developed and Tony Stark’s suit is that Tony Stark’s can fly. Stark’s suit is also loaded with flairs, missiles and weapons galore, and has Stark’s supercomputer Jarvis running the interface. Raytheon’s suit is still in the early stages though, and no doubt will soon catch up πŸ˜‰

Four Iron Man Suits

Tony Stark’s collection of Iron Man suits

If you want to know more about this super cool invention read CNN’s article about it.

22 thoughts on “Are bionic suits a thing of fantasy or the future?

  1. Congratulations on your 100th post! That’s an achievement. I wish you the best as you pursue the next 100.

    Technology never ceases to amaze me. The suit Raytheon developed sounds out of this world. I wonder if they’ll be demoing it anytime soon so we can see it in action?

    • Christopher (admin team)

      Thanks for the encouragement Melanie, and as for the suit, yes it does sound out of this world!

      Thanks for your comment, welcome to the community!
      Christopher – Admin Team

  2. Wow, I know there is going to be a lot of people wanting to by this exoskeleton technology created by Raytheon. The fact that it’ll allow yo to lift 17 times what a person can normally lift is remarkable. I can’t wait to hear more about these exoskeleton suits once they fix the power problem. Thanks for sharing Christopher and congratulations on your 100th post.

    • Christopher (admin team)

      It does sound pretty cool doesn’t it John!

      Thanks for your contribution to the community, welcome!
      Christopher – Admin Team

    • Christopher (admin team)

      As Technology Bloggers is a community blog, and not mine, I can agree with you in that “Technology Bloggers Rocks”!

      Regarding the Iron Man suits, they would be pretty cool too!

  3. That’s amazing, Let us see when it becomes reality. I know our technology is booming quickly and β€œIron Man” is fairly feasible now. If Iron guy suite is just like dream arrive accurate. This is going to be an amazing experience.

    • Christopher (admin team)

      Iron man suits could be pretty cool!

      Thanks for the comment, welcome to the community Mack πŸ™‚
      Christopher – Admin Team

  4. Any gamer here πŸ˜‰

    If you play Starcraft, you will see that the Terran soldiers wear this kind of suits lol!

    Ironman’s is great in my opinion. And I think that we will have it in the future. Why not? When spacecraft advances and the needs to find other planet to live on become urgent, we will have not only this but also other technologies as well (hyper-space jump for example haha)!

    Very nice reading guys, thanks a lot!

    Duy.

    • Christopher (admin team)

      Scary stuff hey Duy, we are developing things only seen before in video games!

      “Very nice reading guys, thanks a lot!” – You are most welcome πŸ™‚

      Thanks for your interesting comments Duy, welcome to the Technology Bloggers community!
      Christopher – Admin Team

  5. Science fiction of the past is slowly becoming the inventions of today. Who would have thought that building these things are even possible 20 years ago? It’s just a matter of time before someone figures out making its power source more efficient. Congrats by the way to your newest milestone! We’ll all be there for your next one for sure. Thanks!

    • Haha, you’re right Jarrod. The pace of exponential technological growth is stunning! Cool stuff!

      Christopher, you’ve got a pretty cool blog. (First visit here.) Looking forward to reading more interesting technology-related stuff from you. πŸ™‚

      • Christopher (admin team)

        Thanks for the comment Jack, just to let you know though, this is not just my blog, it is also yours, Jarrod’s and every other great person who writes, reads or comments!

        Welcome to the community Jack πŸ™‚
        Christopher – Admin Team

    • Christopher (admin team)

      It would be pretty cool Sam, but I know what you mean, only being able to walk as far as your cord could be a little frustrating!

      Bring on wireless power!

      Thanks for your comment, welcome to the community πŸ™‚
      Christopher – Admin Team

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