Age of the exoskeleton

James Francis

In 2019, the US Military ended TALOS (Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit), a programme to develop an advanced exoskeleton suit for soldiers, deeming it not currently technologically feasible. TALOS was ambitious: a full-suit comparable to the superhero Iron Man – not quite, but you get the gist.

The vision for exoskeletons has been around for a while. The earliest patents are from the late 1800s. Robert Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers and the Iron Man comics and films popularised “power suits”. Throughout the modern age, people had tried to get these things to work, but never came close enough.