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March 14, 2002
(continued from previous page)
on an exoskeleton project in the late 1960s, coming up with the cumbersome Hardiman prototype, a massive steel frame intended to be strapped onto its users' arms and legs to help them lift up to 1,500 pounds.
The GE project operators never got more than one arm working, however, and the project died in the early 1970s.
Backyard builder
Owens is a soft-spoken former Army heavy equipment mechanic who describes his improbable project in a matter-of-fact voice, as though talking about putting a new transmission into a used pickup truck. The son of an Air Force officer, he was born in the Philippines and moved around for years as a child before winding up outside Anchorage.
He's always had an eye for huge projects, and an inventor's itch. He built a 35-foot wooden version of his mecha when he was 19, he said, as a sculpture project because he couldn't afford the materials to make it function. The latest project, drawing on his experience in the Army and as a steelworker, is more ambitious.
"With the mecha I wanted to do something different than what everyone else was doing. It's hard to invent something new."
--Carlos Owens
"I've always been building things," he said. "But with the mecha I wanted to do something different than what everyone else was doing. It's hard to invent something new."
When completed, the idea is for the pilot to be able to strap himself into a central, padded compartment, and then control the mecha with the motions of his own body. When the pilot walks, the mecha walks. Raise an arm and open a hand, and the mecha does the same, with 46 possible movements planned.
- Any link to the Toyota iFoot?
- Anyone have a link to info and pics of the iFoot mentioned in the previous post?
- Like this View reply
- Sorry
- Sorry but the film DID NOT have the exoskeletons because of budget constraints. The movie sucked BTW, as compared to the book.
- Like this Reply to this comment
- ahhh, thats so sweet
- this sounds all heroic and stuff, until you realize that mps
(www.mechaps.com) has been brainstorming, designing and
building such a thing for the past 5 years - Like this Reply to this comment
-
- Yeah Right!
- I suppose you'd know this for sure beause....?
- Like this View reply
- not mobile suit gundam . . .
- that picture claims to be from Mobile Suit Gundam, but it is actualy from a newer (early 1990's) series, G Gundam, just sayin' you should change it . . .
Theo Lane - Like this Reply to this comment
- This is Carlos Owens Please see the Grassroots posting section
- I am sure that you the public will find it most interesting, especially when you see what Earle Bishop of MPS wrote.
- Like this Reply to this comment
- Wow...New Hope..New Danger
- Hello....
My first thought was.."Wow..that's great" but at the 2nd sight...it's a very bad idea. Why?
"Think of a couple of guys who juist want to go out on street to say "Hey Mr. President ( a Leader of a Staate....maybe Japan..USA..Germany.what you like)
You are a ******* IDIOT. GO AWAY!"
And a few moments later 3 of these steel monsters come around. Armend with guns or something. I don't like these picture. I'm afraid of it... - Like this Reply to this comment
-
- :)
- Perhaps it would not be smart to do stuff like that then? :D
I for one do not want to be flattened by a Mecha foot. - Like this View reply
- Only in the movies
- I understand your concern, bu your more likely to be struck by lighnting than assasinated by a mecha weilding maniac with intentions of harming anyone. It would be impossible to not know they were coming as their size, and weight would make for some fairly obvious signs of an approach in a public or crouded area. In fact it would be like sending a Tank to do a sniper mission. So don't worry about such things, as they are merely speculation and imagination gone wild. Too many sci fi movies can be a bad thing.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
- New Hope..new Danger
- Hmm..maybe you are right. But today, where W.Bush and other stupid and arrogant guy's are in charge...
I do not trust them as far I can see them..sorry guys but that's my point of view.
But I hope you are right..
farewell and greetings from Germany - Like this View reply
- Would Like an Audience With You.
- Carlos,
I recently saw your article in the Heartland
News Paper. I am intrigued by the potential
for the Mechanized Robotic Exoskeleton
Machines for their usefullness in loading
Cargo and maintaining Extra Large Air and
Space Craft. If you would like to get together to
discuss this matter further please contact me
at the following address. Please submit a
Resume and Educational Transcripts, and / or
Experiential background to the address as
well. Thanks.
3rd Millennium Productions
Mr. Klinton Chace
401 7th Avenue, #210, Fairbanks, AK 99701 - Like this Reply to this comment
- Hosting a Competition
- I also am interested in Hosting a Competition
between Persons and Organizations who
have built Mechanized Robotic Exoskeleton
Machines (MREM's) but am not completely
convinced that there are enough finished
models to be entered into the competition. If
the issue of Patenting the models are in the
way I can help each party individually patent
their own Product Model before they go public.
This will protect each party from sttealing each
others current models. However, at the time
of the competition each party will not be barred
from learning what new developments they
will need to over come the newly developed
MREM's in the next competition.
Also, a state of proffessionalism must exist, in
these competitions. I will be back in about two
weeks to view these posts and would like to
see proffessionalism mixed with healthy
competition.
3rd Millennium Productions
Mr. Klinton Chace
401 7th Avenue, #210
Fairbanks, AK 99701 - Like this Reply to this comment
- NM-21 AND RK-101 R 2 MOBIL SUITS....
- i dont know who all reades these but my cuz and i are working on 2 fully working mobil suits they will work off the movement of your body using ....... well never mind but they work and well...
- Like this Reply to this comment
- very interested.
- Carlos, I am very interested. However, after our last
conversation I was led to believe that you did not want
further contact with me. I am still interested. So I
decided to not pursue it further. I still own and am
building my business and am now working for another
business at:
Pacific Industrial & Engineering, Inc.
Mr. Klinton L. Chace
Producer, Director
FInancial Coordinator
Project / Program / Bid Development
Apprentiship Programs
Budget Analyst
3202 Industrial Avenue
Fairbanks, AK 99701
Fax: 1-907-456-9897 or
Fax: 1-907-456-3805 - Like this Reply to this comment
- Starship Troopers did NOT have the 'exoskeletal armor'!
- Oh, come on! Don't the writers of these stories realize that people who read them have some knowledge of what they're talking about? In the article, John Borland says that:
"Robert Heinlein's 1959 novel "Starship Troopers," and the 1997 film made from the book, featured soldiers with powerful exoskeletal armor that dramatically augmented their strength."
There was no 'exoskeletal armor' in the movie. In fact, the soldiers of the mobile infantry in the movie had very little armor at all, and had almost no protection (I don't count the modern version of the old 'steel pot' as much protection, either). In the book Starship Troopers, the mobile infantry had powered suits that didn't just enhance their strength, but also allowed them to hop around with powered joints and low-powered jets. Not powerful enough to give them the ability to reach escape velocity from a planet, but it let them hop from one area to another, like in a city, which made them a much more difficult target to hit. As the saying goes, "if you can be hit, you can be killed." If you're a constantly moving and small target, it's going to be difficult to shoot you. The suits also had radio gear in them with multi-channels for those of higher ranks, so they didn't rely on a single radio operator like the movie had which reminded me of the old World War II (the second so-called 'war to end all wars') movies. The 'grunts' only got the one, while the guys with more stripes got an extra one, and the officers still one more.
I'd go into detail about how many ways the movie deviated from the book (the most obvious are the lack of armored suits and the lack of good military tactics) but I won't. Perhaps the person who made the movie had little or no military training or wanted to poke fun at the society Heinlein showed us in the book. Heinlein, on the other hand, DID spend some time in the military.
Starship Troopers was an interesting book by Robert A. Heinlein, but I think I prefered The Moon is a Harsh Mistress more.
Rambling again, aren't I? LOL
- CyberWoLfman - Like this Reply to this comment
- Let Me Know
- I go to a University in Michigan, and i was thinking about starting research on the exact same thing, when i came across your idea. Let me know if there is anything i can do. This was somthing i wanted to do for a while, and i just lately put my ideas onto paper... get back at me..
- Like this Reply to this comment
- megas xlr (giant robot)
- i am 10years old and iwant to make a giant robot
- Like this Reply to this comment
- megas xlr (giant robot)
- i am 10years old and iwant to make a giant robot
- Like this Reply to this comment
- megas xlr (giant robot)
- i am 10years old and iwant to make a giant robot
- Like this Reply to this comment
- giant robots in the backyard
- i am 10years old and iwant to make a giant robot
- Like this Reply to this comment
- giant robots in the backyard
- i am 10years old and iwant to make a giant robot
- Like this Reply to this comment
- giant robots in the backyard
- i am 10years old and iwant to make a giant robot
- Like this Reply to this comment
