Thread: a robotic exoskeleton based AI vehicle operated in a armor suit for primarily close quarters combat

Though the idea was influenced from Sci-Fi this is not a Sci-Fi thread this is a thread demonstrating the idea of a robotic exoskeleton based AI vehicle operated in a armor suit for primarily close quarters combat and is a idea of possible and current idea Military Technology.

I was thinking about Master chief from Halo, how does a man survive decades of tens of billions of humans dieing from the devastating wages of war throughout the galaxy, fighting ruthlessly and aggressively battle to battle saving the galaxy from impossible odds, with just super scifi power armor, that apparently does nothing for him besides protecting him from bullets and shrapnel and gives him super strength and agility. I don't think so. I thought what if maybe it wasn't him behind the power of his suit.

Say this "Master chief" jumped off a cliff, now beneath that cliff is 5 enemy soldiers operating a motar. Master chief (Being used as a reference to represent a possible super soldier) As he leaps off this cliff the robot suit aggressively shoves his body in to position, and forces his arms "aggressively" so that his weapon locks (and when I say "Locks" meaning the robot controls the limbs of the user so that the weapons barrel is always aligned to the target) on to the most threatening target and the robot suit, again "shoves" his index finger pulling the trigger and firing a bullet in to the enemy's head killing the soldier instantly, when the robotic suit recognizes that the enemy is neutralized it (instantly) it again aggressively shoves the arms of Master chief and locks on to target number two and repeating the same operation. All this time he is doing this the robot is also recognizing his position is space and using all environment parameters it can safely maneuver the chief in a way that he can land with minimal kinetic energy from this 15 foot or so cliff. The suit is so aggressive and adaptable that this all is done in the seconds he is falling from this cliff, this is just one example of the situation a Intelligent super suit can be used for, basically turning the human body in to a intelligent and versatile vehicle for the occupant to to control.

The computer can work with the occupant it would help the occupant, it would see things the occupant would not see, it can react 100% faster then the occupant, it can recognize situations for the occupant, it can automatically lock on to and naturalize a present threat for you ect...

The future will be riddled with robots, I would imagine 10 years from now we would have 10 + flying micro drones being a cannon fodder for the soldiers they would fly around at very fast speeds and would maneuver so quick your average person would not be able to kill such a small and fast target, but you know what could.. a system like this a robotic suit accompanied with Kevlar armor and all your impressive and intellectually placed soldier needs, This suit can shoot the fast flying attack drones out of the air and saving your fellow soldiers from a terrible pool of lead.

Another somewhat testing situation is maybe having this system and running across a path, with maybe three targets set parallel 6 feet apart. You would run across these targets looking parallel forward and have your right arm extended out with a pistol and you could run across not even looking at the targets and the robot would take over your arm and shoot all three targets accurately.
A system like this could also correct for recoil of a weapon, it would b so aggressive and adaptable that it could compute the weapons position in space as it fires and correct the users body that they would be no recoil.
The simple concept of aggressive overpowering of the human arms to react quickly can be done with a programmer and a robotic engineer I'd imagine, though if it were too aggressive I think there is possibility for tearing muscles and or breaking bones, but of course it is simply a idea.

a robotic exoskeleton based AI vehicle operated in a armor suit for primarily close quarters combat.

Battery power is the limitation...like just about everything now days.

You should check out this article from Scientific American Real-Life Iron Man: A Robotic Suit That Magnifies Human Strength: Scientific American

Originally Posted by Lynx_Fox

Battery power is the limitation...like just about everything now days.

Of course, I can only see this sort of technology being done with a building attached to the robot.

Instead of regular(all purpose) troops you might have to use the power armor soldiers more like a Swat Team unit that goes to a hot spot in an APC or Chopper while charging on power, drop for a short fire fight against enemies with pistols and rifles, and then quickly leave the area on the chopper or APC. Or have the APC recharge them while they're waiting for regular troops that dont need recharging. The APC/Troop Transport could also be a command post to remote control one or a few robots that could take point in the initial attack and stay behind after the fire fight. (of course if the sh#t hits the fan, as it sometimes does, and your power armor troops are isolated, then eventually they'd have to exit from their unpowered armor).

Originally Posted by icewendigo

Instead of regular(all purpose) troops you might have to use the power armor soldiers more like a Swat Team unit that goes to a hot spot in an APC or Chopper while charging on power, drop for a short fire fight against enemies with pistols and rifles, and then quickly leave the area on the chopper or APC. Or have the APC recharge them while they're waiting for regular troops that dont need recharging. The APC/Troop Transport could also be a command post to remote control one or a few robots that could take point in the initial attack and stay behind after the fire fight. (of course if the sh#t hits the fan, as it sometimes does, and your power armor troops are isolated, then eventually they'd have to exit from their unpowered armor).

That seems reasonable, basically your saying make the power supply mobile with a chopper or ground vehicle and the suits could recharge. A good idea but unpractical with the risk of losing your power supplier and this robot suit soon losing its charge would be so heavy ect that the man inside would be stuck and would have to lunge a 500 pound suit and also risk having the suit captured by enemy forces. Though I can see this method being used in unique circumstances or for a singular operation, but not so much a viable method.

Originally Posted by icewendigo

The APC/Troop Transport could also be a command post to remote control one or a few robots that could take point in the initial attack and stay behind after the fire fight. (of course if the sh#t hits the fan, as it sometimes does, and your power armor troops are isolated, then eventually they'd have to exit from their unpowered armor).

Striker Light tanks. I love the Striker... Nothing like an 8 wheel APC with 3C capability. What if you left hard wired to the APCV? It would allow them to maintain zone security and then disconnect if they need to move away from the vehicle. Armored power transfer cables are already in use in the US Army

Originally Posted by dmwyant

Originally Posted by icewendigo

The APC/Troop Transport could also be a command post to remote control one or a few robots that could take point in the initial attack and stay behind after the fire fight. (of course if the sh#t hits the fan, as it sometimes does, and your power armor troops are isolated, then eventually they'd have to exit from their unpowered armor).

Striker Light tanks. I love the Striker... Nothing like an 8 wheel APC with 3C capability. What if you left hard wired to the APCV? It would allow them to maintain zone security and then disconnect if they need to move away from the vehicle. Armored power transfer cables are already in use in the US Army

Interesting, wired to the mobile vehicle. I wonder if power can also be transferred through wireless?

Originally Posted by Lynx_Fox

Battery power is the limitation...like just about everything now days.

I think methanol fuel cells are promising in this respect. You can get about 1/2 the power you could have extracted from a gasoline engine burning the same volume of fuel, but without the nasty fumes. The robot wouldn't be super strong or fast (perhaps it could have weight supporting springs/shocks, to avoid using power directly to carry a heavy load, though). Anyways, the methanol issue has already been discussed at length on this thread.

Methanol Fuel Cells on the Battlefield.

I'm thinking that the only really practical application for mech suits is indoors, stuff like storming underground bunkers. Tanks can't manage stairways very well, so a walking robot is pretty much the only thing versatile enough to handle it. An important task, since underground bunkers are beginning to play a more and more prominent role in conflicts.

Originally Posted by Japith

Originally Posted by dmwyant

Originally Posted by icewendigo

The APC/Troop Transport could also be a command post to remote control one or a few robots that could take point in the initial attack and stay behind after the fire fight. (of course if the sh#t hits the fan, as it sometimes does, and your power armor troops are isolated, then eventually they'd have to exit from their unpowered armor).

Striker Light tanks. I love the Striker... Nothing like an 8 wheel APC with 3C capability. What if you left hard wired to the APCV? It would allow them to maintain zone security and then disconnect if they need to move away from the vehicle. Armored power transfer cables are already in use in the US Army

Interesting, wired to the mobile vehicle. I wonder if power can also be transferred through wireless?

It can, but you need a clear line of sight to aim your power transfer device at the object you want to power.

I think the hardwired technique with the ability to disconnect and run on battery power for short intervals would be more effective then "beaming" power to the suit.

That was an interesting OP, but here's a question. Is the AI in the Power Suit only functioning when the human in the suit cannot achieve an objective by him/herself? I mean.. If the suit were always active: Doing all the aiming, all the seeing, all the moving, all the firing... You may as well just make cyborg soldiers and get rid of the soldier inside the armour altogether.

Terminators or maybe even a drone system. The soldier could use a Virtual environment and control it that way.

Originally Posted by stander-j

That was an interesting OP, but here's a question. Is the AI in the Power Suit only functioning when the human in the suit cannot achieve an objective by him/herself? I mean.. If the suit were always active: Doing all the aiming, all the seeing, all the moving, all the firing... You may as well just make cyborg soldiers and get rid of the soldier inside the armour altogether.

Originally Posted by dmwyant

Terminators or maybe even a drone system. The soldier could use a Virtual environment and control it that way.

Still it would bring a sense of humanity on the battlefield, and the human would be it self a security measure so that the drone is not compromised. There have been cases of drones being hijacked.
The fact that there is a human inside the suit makes it all the more acceptable in the eyes of the public and politics, having terminates killing every single threat, even a boy screaming and compromising the stealth of the robot would be unacceptible in the eyes of public. These terminators would be banned, its not time for walking robots on the battlefield. Having a human inside is the most logical means of getting something like this to be a blast on the arms market.

Originally Posted by dmwyant

I think the hardwired technique with the ability to disconnect and run on battery power for short intervals would be more effective then "beaming" power to the suit.

Yeah. Hard wired would probably work, as long as the people in the suits (or controllers, if remote) always use tactics that prevent the enemy from having the chance to get behind them and cut the wires. In a bunker raiding situation, it's likely to be possible to totally secure the area behind you, and naturally you'd want to have suits waiting behind to cover the backs of those in front, so there are no areas of the hallway where the cords are unsupervised.

Probably the suits would only be the front line anyway. Ordinary un-armored personnel would come in behind them to handle detailed stuff like sweeping for booby traps or recovering captured stuff.

Originally Posted by stander-j

That was an interesting OP, but here's a question. Is the AI in the Power Suit only functioning when the human in the suit cannot achieve an objective by him/herself? I mean.. If the suit were always active: Doing all the aiming, all the seeing, all the moving, all the firing... You may as well just make cyborg soldiers and get rid of the soldier inside the armour altogether.

Yeah, especially if we're sending them in with hard wires for their energy supply anyway. Might as well use the same hard wire to send the control signal, so nobody can hack it without first cutting into the power wire (which would likely be detected.)

Another good tactic would be to have redundant wires, so if one gets cut, the power/signal just goes through another. Or the enemy doesn't know which one to cut.

Probably the suits would only be the front line anyway. Ordinary un-armored personnel would come in behind them to handle detailed stuff like sweeping for booby traps or recovering captured stuff.

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Actually I was think just the opposite....nearly useless on the "front line" (archaic term because there is no such thing in modern war...but I get your point), because it's too big and clumsy for stealth and tactical task such as searching buildings and too intimidating for talking to the town leader....

But the dudes and dudets loading ammo, water and food trucks would love to have armored suites.

I'm thinking about the way SWAT teams storm a building, only imagining it's a bunker they're trying to storm. Think about the underground bunkers where Iran is probably busy working on its nukes right now. It would be a nightmare to try and storm it even with mech suits. Each time you advance, it's a door entry against an enemy who knows you're there and is ready for you (at least after the first few doors). If their military leaders have any common sense, they're going to have taken some precautions. Probably there will be some booby traps, and maybe a few of the rooms will have fortified gun turrets in them or something like that, so if you try to storm in unarmored you'll be a sitting duck. If you throw grenades or flash bangs first.... well... the enemy might have some grenades and flash bangs of their own.


However, the one good thing is you don't have to put much effort into guarding the areas after you take them, because each new area you secure is cutting the enemy off from the door out. They can't really come around behind you. The guys in the front are doing all the fighting. Technical support people can then come in behind and start sweeping for bombs and stuff like that.

Maybe if you assume there is some sort of fusion reactor that can fit on your back, it would be easier to imagine.

Cold Fusion, the answer to all theoretical power problems. I think it may be better if you had a fusion powered vehicle that the power armor could charge from. Advances in battery technology could extend operational times to periods of up to an hour or more. This is ideal as any operation requiring the use of said armor should not have to be a long term engagement. At least until we figure out cold fusion and create armor like that in Starship Troopers. (the book, not the horrendous movie)

Close quarters such as bunkers and buildings often require a lot of climbing around, crawling, ducking etc. All task where an exoskeleton would be a great hindrance.

Originally Posted by Lynx_Fox

Close quarters such as bunkers and buildings often require a lot of climbing around, crawling, ducking etc. All task where an exoskeleton would be a great hindrance.

If that's the case, then I guess if Exo-skeletons entered the scene, then enemies would simply begin designing their bunkers to make the climbing, crawling, ducking, etc even more of a hindrance. So I guess at best it's an easily defeated advantage.

That's unfortunate, because it was the only tactical application I could see the skeletons serving very well. Other than as a fashion statement.