Real-World 'Iron Man' Suit Foreshadows Future of Artificial Intelligence

Cyberdyne Incorporated is building a real life Iron Man suit named HAL. No, this isn't the ultimate in crossover fan-fiction - it's an actual factual product. You might expect to wait ten years for such technology, but Cyberdyne Inc. is aiming to start production in October. Yes, THIS October. Start saving.

The suit in Iron Man is built by Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.), a brilliant engineer who has made billions from building weapons. Kidnapped in Afghanistan, he questions his life, and resolves to put his genius to better use: to protecting rather than destroying by building himself a suit of armor that gives him superhuman powers.

The HAL real-world suit is based on the research of Professor Sankai's laboratory at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. The HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) is designed to enhance the abilities of the wearer without restricting their range of motion, a set of sensors and motors at each joint multiplying the user's strength. And like Tony Stark himself, they appreciate that sophisticated systems require sleek styling to sell - with white shelled sections topped with blue-LED rings at each motor, this couldn't be designed to look more modern without spontaneously jumping into the future.

The interest in enhanced exoskeletons isn't just because of a particularly awesome Iron Man movie (although that movie was very, very awesome). The human body remains the most useful and adaptable machine in production today. Dedicated robots might outperform flesh at dedicated tasks in specific environments, but nothing matches the sheer versatility of the human form coupled with an organic decision-maker (aka "Brain"). A robot skeleton allows that same human flexibility to be brought to bear without the limitations of regular machines or human strength and fatigue. The HAL suit sensors can sense nerve impulses sent by the brain to the muscles and act accordingly, obeying the same instructions but magnifying the wearer's ability tenfold. The human-enhancing approach sidesteps the main problem in developing independent robots for field work - the fact that machines are simultaneously very smart and very, very stupid.

Any AI elements would then be ideal for support roles in the suit (just like the stiff-upper-lipped Jarvis in the movie), easily compensating for motion and doing the sensor-number-crunching while allowing the pilot to take care of all the tricky "Actually deciding what to do" work. There is already keen interest in multiple automated-armor projects in the army, industry and agricultural applications.

Not that all applications are so mundane - a Cyberdyne suit has already entered full super-hero mode, saving a quadriplegic man from the summit of Breithorn mountain, Switzerland. The fact it carried him up there to begin with makes it more incredible, not less. Professor Sankai and colleagues joined The Dreams Mountaineering Team to help realise Mr Seiji Uchida's dream to reach the summit of the swiss mountain, carrying him there on a specially adapted HAL suit. The test demonstrated use of HAL by a regular civilian and the ruggedness of the hardware in a way that would make Tony Stark proud - why do boring tests in a lab when you can climb a mountain, live somebody's dreams and get awesome press into the bargain? The suit can also move according to preprogrammed instructions, so there is the potential to allow paralyzed patients to walk again by themselves (and look kickass - anybody in one of these shiny suits won't look disabled, they'll look ULTRA-abled).

Superstrong, saving the injured and looking damn cool. Iron Man has arrived.

Posted by Luke McKinney.

Iron Man Movie Site & Videos
Real Life Iron Man Suit
HAL Laboratory
Quadriplegic conquers Swiss mountain