For years, the military has worked on exoskeletons to help turn soldiers into heavy-lifting cyborgs. Now with the first civilian exoskeleton manufactured using a 3-D printer, the budding robosuit industry may someday get a little more DIY. If the military gets in on the trend, it means that soldiers could one day make their own combat exoskeletons using desktop computers.
The 3D-printed exoskeleton (seen above) is not exactly a super-suit its designed for a toddler and is about as sophisticated as a swing-arm desk lamp and human-assisted limbs are not new. But like other tools that once required complex manufacturing, theres now another device you can imagine printing yourself.
Engineers at the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Philadelphia used a 3-D printer to make a lightweight plastic exoskeleton for a 2-year-old girl named Emma Lavalle, who was born with a rare condition called arthrogryposis. Her condition which weakened her muscles and joints prevented Lavalle from lifting her arms. She couldnt feed herself, and was too weak to lift a toy.
A video from 3-D printing company Stratasys, though partly an advertisement, is stunning.Lavalle, who was too small to be fitted with a conventional metal exoskeleton, was equipped with plastic magic arms attached to a suit fitted around her body. The suit was light enough for her to carry, and gave her enough augmented strength for her to lift her arms all on her own. The suit can also be customized. As Lavalle grows, the suit can be upgraded with newer printed parts.
The exoskeleton also seems the furthest thing away from the militarys plans tobuild advanced exoskeletons for years to help soldiers carry heavier cargo and lug around more gear. Theres Lockheed Martins Human Universal Load Carrier exoskeleton, or HULC. Raytheon has a wearable robot called the XOS 2. And the Pentagons mad scientist research agency Darpa has been kicking around the idea of creating biomechanical underwear. Yet, Lavalles story could be instructive.
It would mean combining those plans with the Pentagons search for 3-D printers. Last year, the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) sought to buy one. In May, the Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate solicited proposals from universities for an additive manufacturing institute. Additive manufacturing is industry terminology for the printing machines. If the Air Force finds a partner, the service could end up spending $60 million on additive research.
But what would the military actually want with 3-D printers? Many uses would likely be mundane, such as printing out spare parts for everyday equipment and doing so relatively quickly and cheaply. The Air Force, for instance, already prints up replacement parts for older aircraft, though the Air Forces printers are obviously more advanced than those in the domestic market. Physicians at Walter Reed Army Medical Center use 3-D printers to modelprosthetic body partsto help guide reconstructive surgeries. The Army Corps of Engineers has used 3-D printers to make topographic maps. Other purposes are more far-off and experimental, like the Navys proposal to use the printers to buildswarms of micro-robots.
I could certainly imagine a field hospital in Afghanistan having a 3-D printer on hand to manufacture syringes, tourniquets, etc., Jesse Waites tells Danger Room. Waites, a former medical technician and Air Force nurse, and now a Boston-area programmer and technology activist, thinks wider adoption of 3-D printers and exoskeletons is inevitable for both the military and the civilian world.But these civilian exoskeletons,Waitesadds, would be used for just regular civilian life. They could be used by firefighters and dockworkers, tohelp the wheelchair-bound walk, and as preventive medical measures to make sure you dont throw out your back.
Still, that could be scary. Its already possible to use a printer to build a homemade rifle. A 24-year-old Frenchman named Emmanuel Gilloz designed a carrying case small enough to lug around a 3-D printer. On a long enough timeline, this could mean civilians carrying around a portable exoskeleton (or weapons) factory in a box.
For the military, it could mean using the printers to repair or tweak exoskeleton components. Its almost very much like Iron Man has different suits for different occasions, Waites says. Need to replace a spare part or customize your armored exoskeleton? Or need a new one? You would be able to print yourself out some kind of specialized body armor for the rest of the team in the unit; certainly advantageous, he added.
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This 3D-Printed Exoskeleton Could One Day Turn You Into a Cyborg