Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers is a great piece of science fiction.
I am, of course, talking about the book, not the movie which was a joke. (The movie is worth watching in a Robert-Heinlein-will-smite-them-from-the-grave sort of way.)
The star of the book was not any of the characters; the star was The Suit.
Our suits give us better eyes, better ears, stronger backs (to carry heavier weapons and more ammo), better legs, more intelligence (in the military meaning…), more firepower, greater endurance, less vulnerability.
A suit isn’t a space suit – although it can serve as one. it is not primarily armor – although the Knights of the Round Table were not armored as well as we are. It isn’t a tank – but a single M.I. [Mobile Infantry] private could take on a squadron of those things and knock them off unassisted…
The Suit didn’t make the cut for the movie, whose minimally-armored troopers regularly got body parts bitten or blown off.
The Suit is coming closer to reality. according to the BBC:
The HULC (Human Universal Load Carrier) allows soldiers to carry weights of up to 200lbs (91kg) with little effort and is designed to reduce the strain of carrying heavy equipment.
It works by transferring the load to the ground through the exoskeleton’s titanium legs and uses an onboard computer to sense and mimic the user’s movements.
The battery powered device, which can fit different body sizes, also allow for jumps, squats, crawling and slow-speed running.
It’s undergoing testing right now.