Hardcore Scientist Overlord Builds an Armored Suit With Assisting Bionics

[Bararontok]

Conal Mc Beth, also known as Dr. Holocaust on stage, performer, comic book author, science popularizer, physicist, computer programmer, and electronics engineer builds a steel armored hybrid powered limb suit that uses motors controlled by switches built into the suit that respond to his muscle movement. The switches are designed not only to switch on current but to flip the electrical terminals from the DC lithium ion battery in reverse orientation to reverse the polarity of the current in case the pilot wants to move the suit in reverse direction. The suit also carries a spinning assembly of metallic tubes powered by an electric motor that demonstrate the possibility of armored suits being used to carry automatic Gatling Guns. The images of the powered suit can be found below:

[PLAIN]http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/6645/drholocaust.png

[PLAIN]http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1629/drholocaust2.png

[PLAIN]http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/9949/drholocaust3.png

In related news, a Japanese Scientist, Dr. Yoshiyuki Sankai builds a similar powered suit. The full story can be found at the following link:

http://thefutureofthings.com/pod/5701/hal-robot-suit.html

[URL]http://thefutureofthings.com/upload/items_icons/HAL-Robot-Suit_medium.jpg[/URL]

The Japanese automation and robotics giant Sakakibara-Kikai also builds robotic limbs but this time in the form of a landwalker. The full story can be read at the following link:

http://www.gizmag.com/go/4004/

[URL]http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/4004_4050532634.jpg[/URL]

 

[The legend]

Iron man!

pretty awesome to know that such a device exists

 

[Mech_Engineer]

Conal Mc Beth ... builds a steel armored hybrid powered limb suit that uses motors controlled by switches built into the suit that respond to his muscle movement.

That isn't a powered suit, it's a costume. Provide a link to a news article detailing it's design, or this is all hogwash.

 

[Bararontok]

Actually there is no news article for this because this is not a well known powered suit unlike the Japanese hybrid assistive limb. This is only capable of basic forward and backward movement for the arms and legs, and bending. This is not factory made and is just a basic home built suit using home built DC motors and a purchased lithium ion battery pack. It cannot do the complex acrobatics of industrial robots or prosthetic limbs. This is just a basic suit built as a hobby that I just stumbled upon on a hobbyist blog while browsing through the internet in google so give me time to find the link and I will post it. Though I doubt you will have much difficulty in building such a rudimentary device.

 

[Mech_Engineer]

Actually there is no news article for this because this is not a well known powered suit unlike the Japanese hybrid assistive limb. This is only capable of basic forward and backward movement for the arms and legs, and bending. This is not factory made and is just a basic home built suit using home built DC motors and a purchased lithium ion battery pack. It cannot do the complex acrobatics of industrial robots or prosthetic limbs. This is just a basic suit built as a hobby that I just stumbled upon on a hobbyist blog while browsing through the internet in google so give me time to find the link and I will post it. Though I doubt you will have much difficulty in building such a rudimentary device.

I still maintain it's a costume. The motors may "move" it, but simplistic movement (and probably no real enhancement of speed or strength) do not an Iron Man suit make.

EDIT: is it even made out of steel?! Looks like painted cardboard to me...

 

[turbo]

I still maintain it's a costume. The motors may "move" it, but simplistic movement (and probably no real enhancement of speed or strength) do not an Iron Man suit make.

EDIT: is it even made out of steel?! Looks like painted cardboard to me...

And let's consider the recoil of an operating minigun that is firing live rounds as opposed to blanks. The suit would have to have one heck of a system for stability and control. The mock-up might have been fun for him to make, but it's pure fantasy.

 

[Bararontok]

I still maintain it's a costume. The motors may "move" it, but simplistic movement (and probably no real enhancement of speed or strength) do not an Iron Man suit make.

EDIT: is it even made out of steel?! Looks like painted cardboard to me...

Actually all of the robots here and especially the first one are only capable of simplistic movements. Even the ASIMO robot built by Honda can only do very basic movements and definitely no arcobatics. I think the motors, CPU's and actuators today are not yet sohpisticated enough to behave like the Iron Man suit. In fact they only have a small fraction of the maneuverability and speed of the Iron Man suit. The first suit built only provides a minimal boost in strength that makes having it on like using a power tool. They cannot enable the user to demolish buildings or chase cars, but they can easily lift objects like crates, water bottles and barrels though sliding such objects into wheeled carts and just rolling them around would probably be easier. The motors described in the blog each deliver 300W of power and are coupled to the joints in each limb which are 8 in total giving the suit a total power of 2,400W but this power is weighed down by the fact that it has to be used to lift the person, battery pack, and the armor plates first so only a small fraction is left to lift anything else. The armor used by the builder, Conal Mc Beth does not look sleek and shiny because he used cheap steel taken from a junk shop which did not have the fine surface finishes used by the more expensive HAL and because of the steel's weight which totals at 100kg, the battery pack which delivers 2,400Wh of energy allowing the suit to operate for an hour which weighs 10kg, and the pilot who weighs 60kg, the suit can only walk at 3km/h, and with a total power output of 2,400kW the maximum amount of weight that can be lifted minus the 170kg weight of the manned suit is 140kg making it suitable only for slow and menial work that requires only brute force.

And let's consider the recoil of an operating minigun that is firing live rounds as opposed to blanks. The suit would have to have one heck of a system for stability and control. The mock-up might have been fun for him to make, but it's pure fantasy.

The gatling gun on the suit is just a motorized rotating assembly of steel tubes; there is no actual gun on the suit.

Though building suits like this might seem fun, they can also be extermely dangerous since large amounts of electrical and mechanical power need to be used. If the suit is not insulated correctly, it could cause electric arcs to form between the metal plates and the circuitry which could burn the operator alive, and if the operator's skin touches an exposed live wire, they could be electrocuted. Also, the circuits controlling the motors must be very carefully inspected so that the motors' power outputs are carefully regulated. If the motors turn the limbs in a position they cannot be moved to, or if there is a sudden surge in power, it could tear the person's muscles and ligaments apart, or it could break their bones. The robots were also placed within safety lines during public demonstrations since a sudden accidental swing of the limbs could strike the observers and cause serious injury such as head concussions and crushed ribs. It just goes to show that industrial robotics is definitely not child's play and this is further demonstrated by Conal's dangerous gimmicks which include the use of a fast spinning assembly of metal tubes which could snap fingers if they came in close contact or scrape flesh and the use of a tesla globe which can be seen on the chest of the suit which, being powered by a built in inverter-transformer power supply delivering 1,000V of electricity runs the globe and runs the risk of electrical shock, electrical arcs, and arc explosions.