For years, well as far as I can see dating back to the cave men time man has always looked on creating something to protect and make himself stronger. This is of course more the story when your talking about military needs. Any sci-fi writer or reader knows what an Exoskeleton is and does. In the world of science fiction they come in many different sizes and functions from just skin tight shirts to Battle-Tech hundred ton machines that mimic your every move.

This science fiction meets reality has been picking up a lot of news lately and well it should since we are currently at war with thousands of US soliders dead and thousands of others wounded. First Sci-Fi Tech has a nice blog post about 9 Military Technologies we want – Exoskeleton is number 2 on that list and they point out the recerational uses this could have. On the Scince Fiction tv show Dark Angle the male lead – Logan – was wheel chair bound until he came across some fancy Exoskeleton legs making him able to walk again which leads to another interesting concept of this technology.

However before the medical and recreational use of this technology the military will have the first run. In this article at spiegel.de they talk about Robo-Soldiers and how the Pentagon is developing such a thing. This past October New Scientist posted a similar article on their blog and also reflected the length at which these projects have been worked on which is the reason why exoskeletons are popular in Science Fiction. Science fiction writers tend to use things that are possible but limited with todays technology and knowledge, they ask the “what if” and “why not” questions then answer them.

With the advancement in technology and the how computers and electronics are shrinking in size it is only a matter of time we wear our computers. Wearing a computer may mean an entire exoskeleton suite that maybe called a smart suite as well. The future of this technology is as open as the books, cartoons and movies have showed us. Reading about the development of these suites puts a smile on my face that once again technology is caching up to our imaginations.