Image source: topwar.ru
Futuristic military dreams of suit, exoskeleton Iron man can give way to something more simple: a lightweight wearable device that helps to reduce the strain on the back.
New item that weighs about 1.5 kg, is a soft harness that soldiers wear on the shoulders and legs. Soldiers can click on the accessory on the left shoulder, activating the belt that runs along their backs, to lighten the load when lifting heavy items, such as shells, boxes or weapons.
Call this engineering new Soldier Bionic Assistive Exosuit for Resupply, or SABRE. It was developed by the U.S. army and Vanderbilt University and must be deployed in the field in the next year.
SABRE is a departure from the clumsy robot "of the costumes of the soldiers", exoskeletons, which the military has developed in the past years. It is a lightweight, flexible accessory that soldiers can wear when working with a fairly heavy loads. The creators of the item of equipment say that this approach is better because it solves a specific problem of the soldiers, without restricting their movements.
Back pain creates significant discomfort for a serviceman during a combat mission, if he is under external load. According to the Center for public health of the US army, trauma lower back annually lead to reduction of service life of soldiers. According to the US army daily, approximately 460 soldiers diagnosed with a back injury from work with weights.
To solve this problem, the military turned to his project Pathfinder, the purpose of which is the implementation of innovations in military operations through cooperation soldiers with universities, and has invested $ 1.2 million in the development of a prototype suit SABRE.
To date, nearly 100 soldiers have tested the item of equipment at three different army bases. According to Karl Zelik, lead designer SABRE, may 11 soldiers of the 101st airborne division used a SABRE during a training mission at Fort Knox, which required them to lift heavy boxes of ammunition and move the howitzer several times a day. Participated in testing, the military stated that the novelty has really helped, especially when removing ammunition from a truck.
According to Zoellick, now the design of the item of clothing goes from Vanderbilt University and the Pathfinder project to a subsidiary of the Corporation called HeroWear, which will do mass production. However, before mass production will have to solve another difficult task is to obtain approval of a product under the "very difficult" process of procurement in the United States army. However, experts believe that it is unnecessary to delay this will not be a new item of equipment will massively to join the army soon.
