It has got two spindly black legs attached to a backpack with long rectangular batteries on the shoulder blades and an armored computer in the small of its back. Amusingly, it has radiator fins instead of buttocks. The whole machine looks sort of like a human skeleton, because the legs and hips have joints that mimic the movement of human limbs.

In fact, when you strap your legs into its legs, you can walk, run, kneel, squat, dance, or whatever—the exoskeleton has a range of motion equal to that of a human being. You move, and it moves with you. But once on, it allows a regular geek to haul a 200-lb. backpack as if it weighed as much as a couple of physics textbooks.

Now we're talking.

Let me explain how I got here. In late 2007, a production company called me and asked if I'd like to host The Works, a show for the History Channel. My job, they said, would be to "explain, uh, how things work." During my cable TV stint, I raced lawn mowers in Florida, was shot at with a rifle while inside an armored car in Texas, and—best of all—I piloted an honest-to-God lower-body exoskeleton with the researchers at Berkeley Bionics in California.

And so, on an otherwise perfectly normal summer day, I dropped by a nondescript brick building where a group of former graduate students from the University of California at Berkeley were busy making last-minute tweaks to a dead-black titanium exoskeleton, and they invite me to try it on.

My first impression: The straps are too big. The HULC was built with military money and it is designed to fit army guys. And soldiers have big thighs, apparently. I yank the Velcro straps as tight as possible, then strap my shoes into its open-toed boots. I shrug on the backpack and clasp the chest strap. I am now wearing an exoskeleton. Turned off, the device is heavy; it's like wearing a scuba tank on dry land. But once the researchers switch it on, HULC stands up on its own—with me inside.

At this point, I'm still hanging from the ceiling, so I can't fall down. I can't feel any extra weight because the exoskeleton frame supports itself (about 30 lbs), as well as any attached backpacks. We turn on the treadmill and I cautiously bend my knee. Nothing happens. A half-second later, force sensors detect my leg pushing against the exoskeleton and the machine jerkily bends its knee. The delay is disconcerting; I can barely walk.

A couple minutes later, the treadmill is rolling and I'm humping along like Forrest Gump in his special shoes. Like a video game that breaks the human face down into just a few polygons, my new exo-walk consists of just a few gross movements. Knee lift, foot out, foot down. Repeat. It lacks the fluidity of my normal walk, but I don't fall. And oh yeah, every movement is accompanied by the loud whine of electric motors. Each step sounds like reeee (that's the motor) followed by ker-thump, as my foot touches down.

Reeee-ker-thump. Reeee-ker-thump. "Drop the gun," I say. "You are under arrest." (Yes, that's a Robocop joke, and it is hilariously funny.)

After the practice run, it's time to hit the hallway. I immediately notice that my gait is becoming more fluid. I can even balance on one leg. This is because the machine is learning to anticipate my every move. The HULC is no dumb brute. It is constantly sensing the force of my movements and forming a model of how I walk. It's getting to know me, exoskeleton-style.

The HULC is a finished product, along with a slew of other exoskeletons, such as the full-body Sarcos and the medically oriented Hal-5. But make no mistake, scientists have been trying to build robotically augmented limbs since well before Sigourney Weaver used a power lifter to kick alien butt.

Designs for wearable mechanical skeletons have been evolving since the 1960s, when General Electric foresaw using the Hardiman for heavy loading in factories. Sadly, the original designs were infeasibly power-hungry, requiring heavy batteries that pulverized the payload-to-system weight ratio. Even worse, the old designs didn't degrade gracefully, which is a nice way of saying that when the power failed, they would fall to the ground and rip your limbs off. Ouch.

But today, exoskeletons have become a reality and, according to the researchers, they don't suffer from the limb-ripping drawbacks of yesteryear.

Once my gait cycles a few times, HULC has formed a complete model. A researcher informs me that from this point onward, the exoskeleton can cycle through my walk all by itself. Yes, by itself. This means that I could fall asleep and it would keep walking, dragging my legs through the motions. Suddenly, I imagine a platoon of snoozing soldiers fast marching non-stop through dark jungles at an average speed of 7 mph, a fast jog.

That's creepy. Plus, I'm sweaty and exhausted; it's time to take off the exoskeleton.

A couple yanks on the Velcro straps and I'm out. But my legs feel dead, like I just spent an hour jumping on a trampoline. My helpful researcher lets me know that the goal of the exoskeleton is to minimize metabolic cost. Using your muscles costs oxygen, and the brain is stingy—it uses just enough oxygen to get the job done. Once your brain figures out that it needs less oxygen to move (thanks to the exoskeleton), it sends less oxygen. Without the exoskeleton, my brain isn't giving me enough juice to use my limbs normally, hence the weak legs. Luckily, it only takes a few minutes to go back to normal. Thank you, brain.

Despite the amazingness of it all, I have to say it felt clumsy and weird to lock my limbs into the machine's cold, robotic embrace. You won't catch me walking down any staircases in an exoskeleton. At least, not without a lot more practice.

Daniel H. Wilson is the author of several books, including How to Survive a Robot Uprising, Where's My Jetpack?, and Bro-Jitsu: The Martial Art of Sibling Smackdown. Wilson earned his PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. His first novel, Robopocalypse, is forthcoming from Doubleday.

Video from The Works courtesy of The History Channel

This week, Gizmodo is exploring the enhanced human future in a segment we call This Cyborg Life. It's about what happens when we treat our body less as a sacred object and more as what it is: Nature's ultimate machine.

Besides looking cool, the swing arm actually serves a practical purpose. By adjusting its height you can easily fill cups of varying sizes. It also has the ability to brew three packets of coffee without changing the water in the reservoir. The IMO is only a concept at this point, but if it were to go into production, Ströher believes it would retail for about $130. [Coroflot via Trends Updates via The Design Blog]

I strapped on Honda's fresh-from-the-labs Stride Management Assist and Bodyweight Support Assist rigs, and both devices made me feel totally unstoppable, albeit in a goofy sort of way. The whole time I felt the need to go do something great, like go on a cross-country jog or blast into outer space to join a robot colony.

I'm definitely not the target demographic for either device, which Honda's Fundamental Research Institute hopes will help mobilize and rehabilitate Japan's rapidly aging population or lessen the leg fatigue of factory workers who stand and crouch for hours on end. But of course, this didn't stop me from jumping at the opportunity to strap them on and stomp around; this is the first time Honda's prototypes have been presented on U.S. soil.

Stemming directly from Asimo research, Honda's learned so much about how bipeds walk that they can now produce devices that react to human motion in real time to support the motion of walking, using just a few simple sensors each. The magic is in the processing software which was refined with Asimo.

The first one I strapped on, the Bodyweight Support Assist (the one with the saddle) reduces the load on the user's legs to help with physically demanding activities. This one was definitely a bit more cumbersome to wear, but aside from riding up your crotch a bit (it doesn't exert upward pressure, much to Mahoney's relief), the experience is pretty cool. The system operates using just two tread sensors in the soles of the sweet built-in Velcro sneakers and two lift sensors in the legs which register the upward motion of your stride, as well as the orientation. There is zero delay, and you never feel like the device is controlling your movement. It reacted instantly to my motions and enhanced everything I did, like an exoskeleton.

Mundane activities like walking up the stairs and crouching down suddenly became fun and much easier—the saddle provides anywhere from 6.5 to 18 pounds of support when you lean back in it, which isn't enough to sit down on, obviously, but it's certainly noticeable and makes crouching easier. Personally, I had a little issue navigating the stairs and nearly fell backwards, as you can see in the video. Apparently my feet were too small for the sneaker sensors to pick up properly, making the whole device jerk my legs around more than was expected on the stairs. But even Asimo takes a tumble now and then, so wearing his legs, it was only natural that I had a stumble at some point. But when the shoes fit, the experience is absolutely natural.

Second was The Stride Management Assist, which straps on like a belaying harness and weighs practically nothing. It regulates the person's stride and walking pace, making walking much easier for the elderly or disabled while still building up their own muscles. The device was by no means discreet looking, but frolicking around in it felt very natural—just better, as my movements were enhanced almost immediately. The robo hip-huggers definitely perked up my posture and made me move around more confidently, giving gentle support to my legs during all parts of my stride. Walking up and down stairs, you can feel the complex processing involved, with more support given on the way up than on the way down.

Both devices have a sleek look, which Honda hopes to refine even further as they reduce the weight. Battery life for each is around two hours on a single charge, which will also get better as batteries get lighter. Even though Honda's tested both devices in real-world scenarious—the Stride Management Assist in a hospital, and the Bodyweight Support Assist in one of their factories in Saitama, there is no timeline for actual retail availability, but Honda does intend to come up with a finished product for sale eventually.

Which means most people will have to go on dreaming of the cyborg life, but hopefully not for much longer.

Hey, all you endoskeleton people—calm down. Take a deep breath. It's OK. John Mahoney and I actually had the same conversation, and he convinced me. In our books, it's an exo because it's really the outside of the camera, supporting and protecting the entire gadget, just coated a thin layer of paint (or in some parts, plastic). If you still aren't convinced, we can agree to disagree. Or you can go fuck yourselves. Either works.

Obviously, a system like this could prove invaluable for military personnel, laborers, hikers and fat, lazy geeks that don't want their heart to explode while they walk to the kitchen for a Snickers and a Red Bull. Unfortunately, no pricing information or availability dates have been announced, but you can pre-order one now from the Berkley Bionics website. [Berkley Bionics via New Scientist]

The story, well, it's there. Stark, a wealthy playboy CEO and genius of his weapons company finds himself held hostage by terrorists using weapons he designed. The unbearable guilt and irony of the situation leads him to a change of heart and he wants to do the right thing. He builds an advanced exoskeleton suit, but it's not for the military. Oh no, he's done being a merchant of death. He's going to blow up evildoers using his weapons. It's believable to a nerd, like most comic books. (Because we want to believe.) But the tech, the tech is set up in a way that makes it unnecessary to suspend your disbelief. Just sit back and enjoy the techno porn. More or less.

There are blatant displays of advanced technology and engineering scattered in almost every moment of the movie. And not the cheesy kinds you'd find in shit like The Net or Hackers or Lawn Mower Man. It all looks so good and feels so good that know-it-all part of your geek brain won't trigger alarms at the fictional gadgets. Let me try to step through a few of 'em.

The heart of the film is the suit, whose beauty is only outweighed by its laundry list of abilities. Just know there's plenty of suit, and to good effect. When he first puts it on, the dialog between Stark and Jarvis reaches its nerdiest, with talk of suit compression leaks at altitude, Titanium gold alloys, air control surface test runs, and a lot more stuff I can't remember and shouldn't spoil.

The source of Iron Man's power is that little glowy ring in his chest, which creates massive power for its size (3.6 Kilajoules per second or something in its beta form). That too would be suspect since Tony micronized the company's room-sized Cold War arc reactor technology to fit in a watch box while being held captive in a cave. But hey, you're dealing with a genius here; the best engineers in Stark Enterprises attempt to re-create it in the labs, and call it impossible without Stark's spark.

Those are all very satisfying aspects of the suit, but you can find that in any superhero blockbuster. It was all the underlying geek subtext in between all the fights that made it worthwhile. There's a fun moment when Jarvis is giving Stark constant alerts of impending battery run-down and Stark yells back, "Shut up, just put it on my screen!" for an instant UI tweak. Watching the suit develop through trial and error helps to explain the power the exoskeleton has, and all the times he screws up while doing test runs make everything just a little more digestible of a fantasy.

The tech of Stark's house also hits us full in the face. The Malibu mansion's bedroom window doubles as an overwrought alarm clock with translucent touch interface spitting out dozens of metrics for the day including temperatures, news and other must-knows. As the camera pans away from the visuals, you see a unnecessary QWERTY on the side of the wall. Stark's one night stand, who awakes to this display of tech, looks half astounded. Rightfully so.

In his basement, Stark prototypes the primary Iron Man suit as a matter of obsession, and we're brought through the process. He's got multiple monitors, and a pen type stylus he uses the stylus to drag it all over, in real air, to another desk. The square is a holographic projector, but not some lame-ass one-way projector. He dips his hands into the well of light and the models in the air move with his touch. Bad designs get manually tossed into a digital bin on the side, one piece at a time. For the coup de grace, Stark reaches into the repulsor gauntlet design hologram, and wears it. Wears a hologram!

Tony's taste in real estate, women and weapon tech is high end, but the product placement of everyday brands didn't live up to the man's lifestyle. But I nitpick. Don't mind the wonderful Audi R8 in a dull silver (or those fake burnout noises), the S5, and a Q7 which plays as projectile in one urban battle. I mean, I like Audi, but this was overkill. The same complaint goes for the LG/Verizon handsets, which do video chat in the Afghani desert, and the Dell gear all over the place. At least I think I saw some Linux action going on in there. But I'd peg Stark for a guy who'd use a Nokia or Sony Ericsson, if not a hacked A-Phone.

Even the solution to the movie's final problem is a technical one, having to do with the suit's flight surfaces at altitude. The explosions and destruction are great, but it is the brains, via the fantasy gear's engineering that triumphs. And that's why Iron Man could be the perfect Gizmodo blockbuster.

Using sensors attached to the skin, the suit supposedly moves effortlessly with your muscles and it has the capability of increasing your strength up to 10 times the norm. It also has a continuous operating time of about 2 hours and 40 minutes. As mentioned, the monthly rental fee has been set at $1000 which includes $300 for maintenance and upgrades. No word on whether or not they plan on selling these things outright, but I would be perfectly happy renting one and going all Hulk on my enemies for a month or so. [Cyberdyne via LovingtheMachine vie BotJunkie via Boing Boing Gadgets]

Sure, it doesn't have rocket boots built in, but it's still amazing. When wearing XOS you can lift a 200-pound weight and feel like it's just 20 pounds, or throw a punch and have the suit's metal fist follow through onto the target.

Basically the suit has an array of sensors that track the pilot's movements, echoing them with its hydraulic muscles at the same speed. This takes some pretty fancy math so that the machine can react quickly enough to avoid introducing a very limiting motion-lag. Using XOS the pilot can run, walk, cope with stairs and ramps and chuck heavy weights around like there's no tomorrow. It's been in development for a while, and as you can see it has one major hurdle to overcome: that tether.

XOS can run off batteries, but only for 40 minutes: for now, a military-grade portable power source that would fit in its backpack is not practical. But one day it will be, especially with $10 million of new Army research money behind the project. Imagine what the system would look like fitted out with armor, running across a battlefield? Scary.

If the photos and description of what it can do doesn't send chills down your spine, and it should, then check out the video at PopSci. [Popsci]

The exoskeleton promises to make a difference to many areas of military and civilian life alike. As demonstrated in the video, soldiers will be able to do what they need to for longer. Meaning a soldier's efficiency will be greatly increased. The further applications are yet to be tested, but refined models should be able to assist those with physical disabilities, not to mention the possibility for a commercial edition. I wonder what the price will be? It'll surely be worth every penny, did you see how the arm floated upwards? Awesome. [LiveLeak, Thanks, Elvis. P]

On paper, the exoskeleton idea rocks. You put your feet in the boots, which are attached by a series of tubes running up your legs to a backpack, and transfer the weight of the backpack to the ground. Springs at the ankle and hip, and a damping device at the knee, mimic human movement, with a one-watt power input.

Although the exoskellington [sic] does lighten the load, the MIT guinea pigs found they were using 10 percent more oxygen than normal, as the kit impeded their normal way of walking. It's back to the drawing board for the Biomechatronics Group, but they are confident that, in its second incarnation, the DARPA-funded device will mimic a human leg more closely than before.

Starting next year in Japan, you'll be able to lease an exoskeleton (the HAL-5, to be precise) for about $590 a month. Originally designed to help the elderly and infirm walk around when they're too weak to do so themselves, it also works great for getting respect when formerly you got none, and, I assume, doing a totally badass version of the robot on the dance floor. –Adam Frucci

Japan Times [via Medgadget]

Giving Soldiers a high-tech leg up [MachineDesign Via GoRobotics]