# Troy Hurtubise's Armored Suit



## nobuyuki (Jan 15, 2007)

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1168470616997&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815

This thing is awesome.  Robocop-inspired exoskeleton was originally developed for protection in dealing with bears and is known as the Ursus.  His latest incarnation of the suit is supposed to be light enough to be used as an armor for US and Canadian soldiers abroad, and also police forces.  The design is supposed to withstand high powered rifle shots and etc.  Check out the awesome design.

(for those of you who may find this concept familiar, you may remember his older, more bulky designs.  see the video below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3CzYw5-qdA


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## crabby_the_frog (Jan 16, 2007)

Oh wow, that's awesome.

I personally wouldn't mind going to war wearing one of those... but technically if US and Canada can get those, what stops piracy from 3rd world contries after they become mass-produced.

But it's better then what we use now, so I like it.


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## Rhainor (Jan 16, 2007)

The new suit withstood a shot from an elephant gun.  That's not the same as a military rifle round, which is designed to penetrate body armor (albeit the usual Kevlar kind), but it's still damn impressive.


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## skunktoy (Jan 21, 2007)

Interesting, but I doubt the US military would be very interested in it for the near future. 
Too bulky, not enough vision...


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## Rhainor (Jan 21, 2007)

skunktoy said:
			
		

> Interesting, but I doubt the US military would be very interested in it for the near future.
> Too bulky, not enough vision...



Actually, it only weighs about 40 pounds, and has a pretty good field of vision from what I can tell.  The guy wore the thing--helmet and all--when he drove into town to get some publicity.  As predicted, he got pulled over by a cop; after showing the cop that he could still see fine and the suit wasn't hampering his ability to drive in any way, the cop let him go.

I'd gladly take the slight increase in volume of this suit (as opposed to the existing "soft" body armor) for all the advantages it gives.


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## skunktoy (Jan 21, 2007)

Not sure now, but I know before people had a tendency not to wear anything bulky in
combat zones, unless they were forced into doing it, or they themselves saw compelling reason to do so.  Would certainly be interesting to see a squad in a cammo version 
of that suit on manuvers...


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## DavidN (Jan 22, 2007)

I can't help but be reminded of the boxart for Mega Man by that first photo.


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## roxy (Jan 22, 2007)

No thanks. Really the best way will always be to KISS (keep it simple stupid). The more moving parts and external resources you have to rely on the higher a chance somthing will go wrong. The only common complaints you'll see about our current flaks are that they are a little too small for the ceramic plates we're issued and don't hold them too well and the attachment for the side plates ends up with them flapping around and getting in the way of your arms. They're fixing that soon by making them internal as well (like the front and back plates) as well as adding some sort of quick release method of getting out of it.

No one wants to get shot but being covered head to toe in that crap in the middle of Iraq would turn you into an oven. And yeah that may not weigh to much alone but throw in your rifle, ammunition, water source, first aid kits, etc..etc..and now you're even bulkier than before. And good luck trying to climb across the front seats of a humvee in one of those things. It's a pain in the ass enough as it is.


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## Rhainor (Jan 22, 2007)

roxy said:
			
		

> ...
> And yeah that may not weigh to much alone but throw in your rifle, ammunition, water source, first aid kits, etc..etc..and now you're even bulkier than before.
> ...



Water source (canteen with a tube leading to the helmet) and small first-aid kit are integrated into the suit, and thus would not take up any additional space nor add any weight.


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## kitetsu (Jan 23, 2007)

I've read the skepticism surrounding this Halo suit. I have to say, it clearly reminds me of people writing a list of why the PS3 sucks monkey balls.

It's best to just fix the fuckin' thing in the coming generations than dwell on why it sucks shit.


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## nobuyuki (Jan 23, 2007)

please note, for all its advantages and disadvantages, the inventor's still a little bit on the crackpot side -- some of his wilder claims is that he made a light that could cure cancer


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## sasaki (Jan 23, 2007)

The year was 2142...


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## dave hyena (Jan 23, 2007)

The venitilation on medieval plate armour was so bad that people couldÂ Â collapse and even die from suffocation or heat exhaustion.

I have read that major exhertation in it is only really possible for about half an hour. One would have to take frequent liquid refreshment, however urinating in it wasn't very easy. It is written that when people were standing at arms, they had to soil themselves sometimes.

It could take up to 15 minutes to put the armour on as well and required an assistent.Furthermore, the joints on plate armour could get clogged with mud or stoved in and mobility was thereby affected.

It could well be that this armour suffers from all of those problems. Also, having those built in things would be, I imagine, more things to go wrong.


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## Rhainor (Jan 23, 2007)

As I recall, the guy put the suit on, then drove into town (getting pulled over along the way, as previously mentioned), hung out in town all day (standing for most of the time, I believe), and drove back home--all without removing more than the helmet.  Sounds like it's got plenty of ventilation to me.


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