No subject

Wed Dec 5 07:27:13 UTC 2007

Max Boot writes, such a suit truly "would give ordinary mortals many of
the attributes of comic book superheroes.

Our wimpy little Achilles tendons allow the average human to run
somewhere between 6 to 8 miles an hour and, unless your name is LeBron
James, leap only a few feet in the air. New "bionic boots" and "spring
walkers" in development are hoped to solve this. These attach outside
the leg
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l> and mechanically mimic the enlarged Achilles tendon of a kangaroo,
one day perhaps giving the wearer the ability to run as fast as 25 miles
per hour and leap 7 feet.

The "Z-Man project." Creating gecko inspired gloves and boots for wall
crawling.
<http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg19025526.500-geckolik
e-robot-scampers-up-the-wall.html>=20

Exoskeleton flying vehicle
<http://www.trekaero.com/Trek_VTOL_Springtail_Vehicles.htm> with a
maximum speed of maximum Speed 113 mph, range of 184 miles and endurance
of endurance 2.2+ hours.

The Mesoscopic Integrated Conformal Electronics (MICE)
<http://www.garreau.com/main.cfm?action=3Dchapters&id=3D53> program has
already succeeded in printing electronic circuits on the frames of=20
eyeglasses
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l> and helmets, weaving them into clothes, even putting them on
insects. These include electronics, antennas, fuel cells, batteries and
solar cells.=20

The Biological Input/Output Systems program is designed to enable
plants, microbes and small animals to serve as "remote sentinels for
reporting the presence of chemical or biological" particles. They'd do
this by changing color, lighting up fluorescently, dropping their leaves
or changing the color of their flowers.=20

The Brain-Machine Interface program is investigating how you would put
wireless modems
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l>  into people's skulls.=20

And that's just the Defense Sciences Office, the department of DARPA
most directly involved with human enhancement. Meanwhile, on the floor
where the Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO) resides, its
director, Ron Brachman, former research vice president at AT&T Labs and
previously at Bell Labs, and president of the American Association for
Artificial Intelligence, wants to complete DARPA's vision from the
sixties. When the original IPTO was created in 1962, its director,
J.C.R. Licklider, focused the office on his novel conception of=20
computers
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l> and humans working in symbiosis. That idea resulted in the Internet
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l> . Now the new IPTO "wants to realize this vision by giving computing
systems unprecedented abilities to reason, to learn, to explain, to
accept advice, and to reflect, in order to finally create systems able
to cope robustly with unforeseen circumstances," according to Brachman.
The object of the game is to produce machines-and the italics are
his-"that truly know what they're doing.

A project is regarded as "DARPA-esque" only if few others would tackle
it, but it would be earth-jolting if it did work.
<http://www.garreau.com/main.cfm?action=3Dchapters&id=3D53> DARPA's
attitude <http://www.darpa.mil/body/off_programs.html> is if an idea
looks like a sure thing, let somebody else fund it. The "special focus
area" is for really extreme projects.
<http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=3Dnavclient&ie=3DUTF-8&rlz=3D1T4GF=
RC_en
US209US241&q=3D%22special+focus+area%22+darpa>=20

FURTHER READING
Darpa supports the Raytheon Sarcos XOS exoskeleton
<http://www.raytheon.com/newsroom/technology/rtn08_exoskeleton/>=20

Of the three teams that took part in a seven year $75 million project
(Sarcos, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of California
at Berkeley), the XOS emerged in 2005 as the suit closest to the
agency's initial vision. It is the only full exoskeleton the military
has moved into the next development stage; Sarcos is now working under a
two-year, $10-million Army grant.
<http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-04/building-real-iron-man?pa
ge=3D3>=20

=20
<http://bp3.blogger.com/_VyTCyizqrHs/SH7FI5SEXWI/AAAAAAAAA6k/BUr4Xbtsolw
/s1600-h/XOS.jpg>=20
During XOS demos the suit is tethered to a hydraulic pump that draws
electricity from an external power supply
<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.htm
l> . The suit can operate from batteries, but only for 40 minutes at a
time.

The country's other two top exoskeleton designers, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology professor Hugh Herr and Homayoon Kazerooni of
the University of California at Berkeley, began with the power problem.=20

Herr is trying to build a leg-powering machine that uses as little
energy as possible-the first iteration draws a mere two watts,
comparable to a portable radio-but can support 80 percent of an 80-pound
load on a user's back. Herr thinks that within the near future, he can
improve the mechanics so that the machine actually saves the wearer
effort.=20

Kazerooni has made the Human Load Carrier (HULC) which is a lower-body
exoskeleton that can operate for more than 20 hours without recharging.
He says it allows the user to carry 100 pounds on his back and burn 15
percent less oxygen than if he was supporting the added weight alone. A
three-year, $2-million grant from the National Institute of Standards
and Technology is being used to modify as a wheelchair replacement.

The army is now performing live fire tests of new body armor
<http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/army_bodyarmor_061808w/>=20

Currently : the Army issued the Improved Outer Tactical Vest, a
redesigned version of Interceptor body armor, starting in late 2006. The
soft body armor protects against 9mm ammunition and fragmentation. IOTV
is also equipped with front, rear and side armor plates known as
Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts. When worn together, the IOTV
will stop 7.62mm armor-piercing rounds.

Several vendors have demonstrated they can produce body armor that can
outperform the protection offered by IOTV with ESAPI.

The Land Warrior system was sent in to battle in spring 2007 with the
4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 4th (Stryker) Brigade, 2nd
Infantry Division.
<http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/03/04/7752-peo-soldier-modernization-at-
good-value/> At that time the deployed system weighed 10 pounds (down
from 17 pounds). The weight has been dropped to seven pounds, and they
expect to reduce it even further.

Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier
<http://peosoldier.army.mil/about.asp> was created by the Army with one
primary purpose: to develop the best equipment and field it as quickly
as possible so that our Soldiers remain second to none in missions that
span the full spectrum of military operations. PEO soldier currently has
400 programs.

The Soldier Enhancement Program (SEP) is to identify and evaluate
commercially available individual weapons, munitions, optics, combat
clothing, individual equipment, water supply, shelters, communication
and navigational aids which can be adopted and provided to Soldiers in
three years or less.

=20

------_=_NextPart_002_01C8E8F5.76D70F12
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<html xmlns:v=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" =
xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" =
xmlns:w=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" =
xmlns:m=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" =
xmlns=3D"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">

<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; =
charset=3Dus-ascii">
<meta name=3DGenerator content=3D"Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
 /* Font Definitions */
 @font-face
	{font-family:"Cambria Math";
	panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
	{font-family:Calibri;
	panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
	{font-family:Tahoma;
	panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
	{font-family:Consolas;
	panose-1:2 11 6 9 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
	{font-family:Georgia;
	panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3;}
 /* Style Definitions */
 p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
	{margin:0in;
	margin-bottom:.0001pt;
	font-size:11.0pt;
	font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
h2
	{mso-style-priority:9;
	mso-style-link:"Heading 2 Char";
	mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
	margin-right:0in;
	mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
	margin-left:0in;
	font-size:18.0pt;
	font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
	font-weight:bold;}
h3
	{mso-style-priority:9;
	mso-style-link:"Heading 3 Char";
	mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
	margin-right:0in;
	mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
	margin-left:0in;
	font-size:13.5pt;
	font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
	font-weight:bold;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
	{mso-style-priority:99;
	color:blue;
	text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
	{mso-style-priority:99;
	color:purple;
	text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoPlainText, li.MsoPlainText, div.MsoPlainText
	{mso-style-priority:99;
	mso-style-link:"Plain Text Char";
	margin:0in;
	margin-bottom:.0001pt;
	font-size:10.5pt;
	font-family:Consolas;}
p
	{mso-style-priority:99;
	mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
	margin-right:0in;
	mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
	margin-left:0in;
	font-size:12.0pt;
	font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
	{mso-style-priority:99;
	mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
	margin:0in;
	margin-bottom:.0001pt;
	font-size:8.0pt;
	font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
span.PlainTextChar
	{mso-style-name:"Plain Text Char";
	mso-style-priority:99;
	mso-style-link:"Plain Text";
	font-family:Consolas;}
span.Heading2Char
	{mso-style-name:"Heading 2 Char";
	mso-style-priority:9;
	mso-style-link:"Heading 2";
	font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
	font-weight:bold;}
span.Heading3Char
	{mso-style-name:"Heading 3 Char";
	mso-style-priority:9;
	mso-style-link:"Heading 3";
	font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
	font-weight:bold;}
span.klink
	{mso-style-name:klink;}
span.BalloonTextChar
	{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
	mso-style-priority:99;
	mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
	font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
.MsoChpDefault
	{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page Section1
	{size:8.5in 11.0in;
	margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.Section1
	{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
 <o:shapedefaults v:ext=3D"edit" spidmax=3D"2050" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
 <o:shapelayout v:ext=3D"edit">
  <o:idmap v:ext=3D"edit" data=3D"1" />
 </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>

<body lang=3DEN-US link=3Dblue vlink=3Dpurple>

<div class=3DSection1>

<h2><span =
style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:normal'>http://nextbigfuture.com/20=
08/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-10.html<o:p></o:p></span></h2>

<h2>July 16, 2008<o:p></o:p></h2>

<h3><a name=3D1488187714727907332></a>$3 billion super soldier program: =
10 times
muscle endurance, 7 foot vertical leap, wall crawling, personal flight =
and more
<o:p></o:p></h3>

DARPA today has a long-term, $3 =
billion program
to help make such a &#8220;Metabolically Dominant Soldier.&#8221; In =
other
words, the military is studying how to use technology and biology to =
meld man
and machine and transcend the limits of the human body. Described the =
project
director, <a
href=3D"http://www.darpa.mil/darpatech2002/presentations/dso_pdf/speeches=
/GOLDBLAT.pdf"
target=3Dblank>&#8220;My measure of success is that the International =
Olympic
Committee bans everything we do&quot;</a> The $3 billion program is =
definitely
trying to achieve transhuman performance goals. 
 
The wearable gear would enable running at 100 meter olympic sprinter =
speed for
hours and the 7 foot vertical leap, the wall crawling, personal flight,
invisibility, greatly enhanced strength, better body armor and carrying =
bigger
and more powerful weapons. 
 
The drugs and genetic enhancements and some technology which gets =
applied would
allow for regeneration, faster <a
href=3D"http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-=
10.html"
target=3D"_top" id=3DKonaLink2>healing</a>, =
muscle
strength enhancement up to current olympic levels, endurance of an =
Alaskan sled
dog, cognitive enhancement, operate without sleep for many days without =
performance
degradation, the metabolic energy of twenty year old for a forty or =
fifty year
old and immunity to <a
href=3D"http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-=
10.html"
target=3D"_top" id=3DKonaLink3>pain</a>. 
 
The Metabolically Dominant Soldier program is managed by Joe Bielitzki. =
He is
talking about fixing your cells so that you could live off your fat. =
Bielitzki
acknowledges the potential for spin-off technologies. &#8220;Forty =
billion
dollars a year goes into the <a
href=3D"http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-=
10.html"
target=3D"_top" id=3DKonaLink4>weight loss</a>
industry in this country,&#8221; he muses. &#8220;This will change =
it.&#8221; 
 
Regeneration, better healing, better immune <a
href=3D"http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-=
10.html"
target=3D"_top" id=3DKonaLink5>systems</a> =
would all
revolutionize healthcare costs and healthcare effectiveness. So =
trillions in
economic benefit as a side effect of supersoldier success. DARPA is also =
trying
to enhance cognition, training and giving the energy levels of youth to =
the <a
href=3D"http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-=
10.html"
target=3D"_top" id=3DKonaLink6>elderly</a>. =
Those
could provide multi-billion or even trillion dollar per year boosts to =
the US
and world economy. 
 
Projects in pipeline range from drugs that will boost muscles and =
energy by
a factor of 10, akin to steroids&#8230;on steroids (the project is =
jokingly
termed the &#8220;Energizer Bunny in Fatigues&#8221;) to wearable, =
cooling
gloves that regulate body temperature and prevent soldiers from getting
overheated (and thus tired) even on the hottest desert day. [Keeping the =
body
cool increases endurance] 
 
<a
href=3D"http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/safe-human-enhancement-of-streng=
th.html"
target=3Dblank>This program is going well beyond some current relatively =
safe and
conservative forms of performance enhancement. [Safer SARM/steroids, =
endurance
enhancing drink]</a> 
 
A major focus is on helping the soldier&#8217;s body to better deal with =
trauma
and damage. One such is the &#8220;pain vaccines&#8221; coming out of a =
program
at Rinat Neuroscience [Pfizer acquired <a
href=3D"http://www.lifescience-online.com/Pfizer_to_Expand_Neuroscience_R=
esearch_With_Acquis,473.html?portalPage=3DLifescience+Today.News"
target=3Dblank>Rinat Neuroscience in 2006</a>]. Researchers are hopeful =
these &#8220;will
block the sense of pain for almost a month,&#8221; describes =
DARPA&#8217;s
Michael Goldblatt. 
 
<a =
href=3D"http://www.garreau.com/main.cfm?action=3Dchapters&amp;id=3D53"
target=3Dblank>The substance does is block intense pain in less than 10 =
seconds.</a>
Its effects last for 30 days. It doesn&#8217;t stifle your reactions. If =
you
touch a hot stove, you still have the initial shock; your hand will =
still
automatically jerk away. But after that, the torment is gone. The =
product works
on the <a
href=3D"http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-=
10.html"
target=3D"_top" id=3DKonaLink7>inflammatory =
response</a>
that is responsible for the majority of subacute pain. If you get shot, =
you
feel the bullet, but after that, the <a
href=3D"http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/3-billion-super-soldier-program-=
10.html"
target=3D"_top" id=3DKonaLink8>inflammation</a> =
and
swelling that trigger agony are substantially reduced. The company has =
already
hit its first milestones in animal testing and is preparing reports for
scientific conferences. 
 
<a =
href=3D"http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2008/0502_iron_man_singer.aspx"=

target=3Dblank>Army Soldier enhancement systems</a> 
 
The plan is for new body armor that, instead of Kevlar, is filled with =
nano-materials
that are connected to a computer. [Computer controlled liquid armor] =
It
would normally be as flexible as regular uniform made of fabric. But, =
like how
a crash-bag works inside a car, it would activate whenever the system =
detects a
bullet strike and turn as hard as steel in an instant. 
 
Gloves could turn into real-life brass knuckles. 
 
The fabric could even be woven in with &quot;nanomuscle fibers&quot; =
that
simulate real muscles, giving soldiers more an estimated &quot;25 to =
35
percent better lifting capability.&quot; So myostatin strength boost =
to get
to olympic athlete strength levels and then 25-35% boost from a soft =
suit. Use
better exoskeletons for more strength enhancement.