Unfortunately, GE could only get one
arm to work and they never could get
it to walk with a man inside. Worse
yet, in initial tests, the suit was prone
to violent, uncontrolled motions so a
man was shown inside only for PR
photos. Hardiman was not entirely a
failure, however. The Hardiman was
far too heavy, was hydraulic, top
heavy, and difficult (if not impossible)
to control. The designers of the next
exoskeleton suits took these design
errors into consideration.
Exoskeletons and
the Movies
Let’s step a bit into fiction and
examine some exoskeletons in the
movies. RoboCop was a cyborg of
sorts in the ‘80s. Orion Pictures’
tagline for the 1987 movie was “Part
Man. Part Machine. All Cop. The future
of law enforcement.” Figure 3 shows
a ‘blueprint’ of what Weller’s character
was supposed to look like inside.
Actor Peter Weller portrayed police
officer Alex Murphy killed in the line
of duty in futuristic Detroit. The robot
suit that Weller wore was so hot that
he had to have a personal assistant to
cool him down between takes. In the
story line, he was shot but it seems
that the only part of his body that
was used in the ‘RoboCop’ exoskeleton
cyborg suit was his face (Figure 4).
The exoskeleton suit in Iron Man
was quite a hit at the box offices last
summer. Robert Downey, Jr. starred as
Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist
and genius inventor. He was kidnapped and told to develop a weapon
system but invents an invincible suit of
armor instead and escapes captivity.
When Stark discovers a plot to
devastate the world, he dons his
robotic suit and vows to protect the
world as Iron Man, (Figure 5). Of
course the robot suit seems to use
things scientists and engineers
worldwide have never heard of or
have conceived. No exo-suit discussion
would be complete without mentioning
the classic scene in Alien where
Sigourney Weaver’s character takes on
an angry mother alien using a ‘power
loader’ exoskeleton (Figure 6).
FIGURE 3. RoboCop ‘Blueprint.’
78 SERVO 11.2009
FIGURE 4. RoboCop Alex Murphey.
FIGURE 5. Iron Man by
Marvel Studios.
Mecha by
Carlos Owens
Stepping back into
the real world, Figure 7
shows a towering, 18
foot tall, one ton beast
built by Carlos Owens of
Wasilla, AK. It is so large
that it must reside outside
his home all year long,
weathering Alaska’s
winter snow storms. It
is a constant work-in-progress and is expected
to mimic his movements
and controls some day.
At present, it is able
to do sit-ups, bend at the
knees, and raise its arms
under Owens’ control. He
built a full-scale prototype
out of wood to prove out
placement of components;
this second generation
steel beam-constructed
suit started in 2004 and
uses a hydraulic/electric
system for powering the
extremities. Owens is
looking at lighter
construction methods
in the future such as
aluminum to reduce the
weight. Owens started
out with an idea to use
his experience as an
