Sunday, October 16, 2005

IEEE Spectrum - The Rise of the Body Bots

IEEE Spectrum - The Rise of the Body Bots:
"Science-fiction fans have long become accustomed to the idea of steely commandos clad in robotic exoskeletons taking on huge, vicious, extraterrestrial beasts, shadowy evil cyborgs, or even each other. Supersoldiers encased in sleek, self-powered armor figure memorably in such works as Robert A. Heinlein's 1959 novel Starship Troopers, Joe W. Haldeman's 1975 The Forever War, and many other books and movies. In 1999's A Good Old-Fashioned Future, for example, Bruce Sterling writes of a soldier dying after crashing in his 'power-armor, a leaping, brick-busting, lightning-spewing exoskeleton.'"