In the promo video above, at least, the exoskeleton-clad soldier looks pretty agile — when he’s not staring off into the distance, assuming his best macho pose. He scampers up a mountain crag, hops from rock to rock, and trudges through sand. The maneuverability has long been the selling point of the system, originally designed at the University of California at Berkeley.
Unlike Darpa’s new robotic arm, the super-suit isn’t directly controlled by the user’s mind; instead, the exoskeleton senses the wearer’s movement, and augments it. Unlike its super-strength competitor from Raytheon, HULC doesn’t have arm attachments.
But Lockheed insists that the “un-tethered, battery powered, hydraulic-actuated anthropomorphic exoskeleton” helps the wearer perform “deep squats, crawls and upper-body lifting with minimal human exertion” by transferring weight down to the legs.
Under a relatively-small, $1.1 million contract, researchers at Natick — the Army’s main center for testing dismounted soldier gear — will look at HULC’s impact on troops’ performance. “Biomechanical testing will measure the energy expended by a soldier when using the HULC,” according to a Lockheed statement. “The laboratory testing will also assess how quickly users learn to use the HULC system when carrying various loads and moving at various speeds. The contract includes options for field trials to test the system’s utility in operational environments.”
It’ll still be years (if ever) before the exoskeleton makes it into combat. Making it through these tests is the next robotically-enhanced step.
