Good news for real MJOLNIR armour

Games Other Halo
1

Hi guys,

I’ve got some good news for you rich -Yoinks!- out there who are willing to spend a couple of million dollars on a mjolnir suit!

All jokes aside, I’m a grad student mastering in biomechanical engineering. A couple of months ago we were able to create an array of polymer octagons which respond to pressure and were able to control them as well. My field is exoskeletons so I decided to get frisky and try to recreate actual mjolnir style functionality. If you want to read the tech details, scroll all the way down.

Basically what I did was I made a gel cast of my elbow area. So That’s everything starting from my wrist up to my armpits. I then spent a good 3 weeks layering the polymer octagons (cell). Eventually I had this weird arm-sock which I was able to put on. This was a couple of hours ago. I connected the “sock” or suit or whatever you wanna call it to a regular 220V power source and my laptop.

The laptop runs special software which is able to pinpoint which cell force is being exerted on. Because of the special nature of the polymer we’re using, it is able to “amplify” the force I produce by a factor of 7-10.

So in other words, if I could lift let’s say 20kg with my right arm, I was now able to lift at most 200kg. Obviously I didn’t do that because I would break my entire body. I would need bones made from a titanium alloy to withstand such normal forces.

Either way, I’m sure you guys would love to hear this so that’s why I posted it here before. Publishing my article is going to take another month or so me being the Halo fan I am, I gave you guys a sneak preview.

For you science people out there, I am not allowed to share all the fancy technical details on how it works, but it used the same principle of strain gauges on a wheatstone bridge. But somewhat modified. The polymer cells conduct electricity in the center. That’s why they have to make contact to function. Now you might think: How do you know which cell is which in your software? Good question. Since every polymer has a different resistance, you can assign an ID in the software. It automatically creates an array of every cell and assigns an ID to each of them by sending electric pulses at different voltages (differing in uV). The power input is 24V. As soon as pressure is exerted on the cell it will contract.

I’m happy to answer questions while I’m still awake. I hope you guys will enjoy this news as much as I do!

EDIT:
I forgot to add 1 more thing. The eventual goal is to build a full body suit. The problem is always that you either need bones of steal with this suit, or you need a suit out of steel which is bulky and not flexible. Otherwise you just can’t lift large weights. So if any smart guys are out there who know how to solve this problem… hit me up!

2

SCIENCE!

3

Cool I guess. Interesting to say the least.

4

> SCIENCE!

i laughed so hard

5

Whatever Egghead. XD

Joking aside, this is a step in the right direction, keep up the good work.

6

That is freakin’ awesome.

Can it resist bullets yet? Heh. I just wish I could have all those technical secrets…

7

Home projects win :smiley:

Nice work dude ;d

8

Pics or -Yoink-.

9

> That is freakin’ awesome.
>
> Can it resist bullets yet? Heh. I just wish I could have all those technical secrets…

Not quite. It is very resistant (once the glue dries) to heat and impulse. It’s a kind of plastic, but not extremely rigid. It has some ‘give’.

For military purposes you can attach armor plating like the spartans have.

In other words: Can someone shoot you in this suit alone? Yes. But can you punch through a concrete wall with rebar? Damn straight you can, but at the cost of the suit (as it is now).

10

At college atm there is a group of us working on a form of exo suit legs atm, in theory it would allow a human to run and jump 3 times as much as normal

11

> Home projects win :smiley:
>
> Nice work dude ;d

This is not a home project :wink: It’s my research and graduation project.

@Quasimalodorous

Pictures will follow with the article next month. I can’t post pictures now or it will discredit me. It’s strange because I can openly talk about certain aspects… I should have a talk with my TA

12

Saw an article recently on new gel-based materials that can stop bullets better than anything we’ve invented yet. There’s no way the public can access it but still your idea combined with theirs?

…now that would be cool.

13

Question: are you for real cus it almost sounds too good to be true?

14

> At college atm there is a group of us working on a form of exo suit legs atm, in theory it would allow a human to run and jump 3 times as much as normal

I hope you take into account the maximum rate of response of the leg muscles (most noticeably the sartorius.

15

Cool. I’m not a super scientist like you but could you use Kevlar weaved the right way to give a somewhat artificial boost to the breaking limits of the human body.
like I said I’m no super scientist so it’s just an idea.

Or maybe ceramic bone grafts to consenting adults. I know sounds silly but you never know until you try.

16

You should find some way to contact a military, somewhere. I’m sure they could find some use for this.

17

> You should find some way to contact a military, somewhere. I’m sure they could find some use for this.

Indeed. If you can actually pull this off in a full working suit, I’m sure your military would be interested. If not that then at least construction companies or anything involving physical labor.

18

> > At college atm there is a group of us working on a form of exo suit legs atm, in theory it would allow a human to run and jump 3 times as much as normal
>
> I hope you take into account the maximum rate of response of the leg muscles (most noticeably the sartorius.

o i do designs for feet etc i dont do the fancy very detailed stuff i like doing the drawing etc took an idea from the mantis acturly in one of my drawings point out possible modifications for example for a mark 2 version to be able to go onto more rugged ground

19

> Hi guys,
>
> I’ve got some good news for you rich -Yoinks!- out there who are willing to spend a couple of million dollars on a mjolnir suit!
>
> All jokes aside, I’m a grad student mastering in biomechanical engineering. A couple of months ago we were able to create an array of polymer octagons which respond to pressure and were able to control them as well. My field is exoskeletons so I decided to get frisky and try to recreate actual mjolnir style functionality. If you want to read the tech details, scroll all the way down.
>
> Basically what I did was I made a gel cast of my elbow area. So That’s everything starting from my wrist up to my armpits. I then spent a good 3 weeks layering the polymer octagons (cell). Eventually I had this weird arm-sock which I was able to put on. This was a couple of hours ago. I connected the “sock” or suit or whatever you wanna call it to a regular 220V power source and my laptop.
>
> The laptop runs special software which is able to pinpoint which cell force is being exerted on. Because of the special nature of the polymer we’re using, it is able to “amplify” the force I produce by a factor of 7-10.
>
> So in other words, if I could lift let’s say 20kg with my right arm, I was now able to lift at most 200kg. Obviously I didn’t do that because I would break my entire body. I would need bones made from a titanium alloy to withstand such normal forces.
>
> Either way, I’m sure you guys would love to hear this so that’s why I posted it here before. Publishing my article is going to take another month or so me being the Halo fan I am, I gave you guys a sneak preview.
>
> For you science people out there, I am not allowed to share all the fancy technical details on how it works, but it used the same principle of strain gauges on a wheatstone bridge. But somewhat modified. The polymer cells conduct electricity in the center. That’s why they have to make contact to function. Now you might think: How do you know which cell is which in your software? Good question. Since every polymer has a different resistance, you can assign an ID in the software. It automatically creates an array of every cell and assigns an ID to each of them by sending electric pulses at different voltages (differing in uV). The power input is 24V. As soon as pressure is exerted on the cell it will contract.
>
> I’m happy to answer questions while I’m still awake. I hope you guys will enjoy this news as much as I do!
>
> EDIT:
> I forgot to add 1 more thing. The eventual goal is to build a full body suit. The problem is always that you either need bones of steal with this suit, or you need a suit out of steel which is bulky and not flexible. Otherwise you just can’t lift large weights. So if any smart guys are out there who know how to solve this problem… hit me up!

Now all you need is to set Siri to call you Chief and you’re good to go.

20

> Hi guys,
>
> I’ve got some good news for you rich -Yoinks!- out there who are willing to spend a couple of million dollars on a mjolnir suit!
>
> All jokes aside, I’m a grad student mastering in biomechanical engineering. A couple of months ago we were able to create an array of polymer octagons which respond to pressure and were able to control them as well. My field is exoskeletons so I decided to get frisky and try to recreate actual mjolnir style functionality. If you want to read the tech details, scroll all the way down.
>
> Basically what I did was I made a gel cast of my elbow area. So That’s everything starting from my wrist up to my armpits. I then spent a good 3 weeks layering the polymer octagons (cell). Eventually I had this weird arm-sock which I was able to put on. This was a couple of hours ago. I connected the “sock” or suit or whatever you wanna call it to a regular 220V power source and my laptop.
>
> The laptop runs special software which is able to pinpoint which cell force is being exerted on. Because of the special nature of the polymer we’re using, it is able to “amplify” the force I produce by a factor of 7-10.
>
> So in other words, if I could lift let’s say 20kg with my right arm, I was now able to lift at most 200kg. Obviously I didn’t do that because I would break my entire body. I would need bones made from a titanium alloy to withstand such normal forces.
>
> Either way, I’m sure you guys would love to hear this so that’s why I posted it here before. Publishing my article is going to take another month or so me being the Halo fan I am, I gave you guys a sneak preview.
>
> For you science people out there, I am not allowed to share all the fancy technical details on how it works, but it used the same principle of strain gauges on a wheatstone bridge. But somewhat modified. The polymer cells conduct electricity in the center. That’s why they have to make contact to function. Now you might think: How do you know which cell is which in your software? Good question. Since every polymer has a different resistance, you can assign an ID in the software. It automatically creates an array of every cell and assigns an ID to each of them by sending electric pulses at different voltages (differing in uV). The power input is 24V. As soon as pressure is exerted on the cell it will contract.
>
> I’m happy to answer questions while I’m still awake. I hope you guys will enjoy this news as much as I do!
>
> EDIT:
> I forgot to add 1 more thing. The eventual goal is to build a full body suit. The problem is always that you either need bones of steal with this suit, or you need a suit out of steel which is bulky and not flexible. Otherwise you just can’t lift large weights. So if any smart guys are out there who know how to solve this problem… hit me up!

I’m somewhat skeptical. It sounds like you’re making leaps and bounds without any setbacks. That’s usually not how research works. It doesn’t make much sense to me as to how you can pick up 20kg, and due to the reaction to pressure from the suit, you would be able to lift 7-10 times the weight if you had stronger bones. If it’s an exoskeleton, shouldn’t it just be responding to your normal strength and amplifying that by carrying the full load? Or, are you saying that it simply contracts or expands but has no multiplication factor for shear/bending stresses (in which case you would need stronger bones)?

Moving on.

I’m assuming the cells are piezoelectric? That tells you which ones are being activated and your software just knows which it is based on that. If you wanted it bulletproof, your best best would be ceramic plating with a thin layer of shear-thickening viscoelastic material beneath it.