Power Armor (8) Entering the real world.

So after all the fictional power suits I've looked over, what is going on as far as development of real-life suits like this? Well for one, Although not fully powered, Atmospheric Diving Suits are getting to be more and moe like power armor all the time. They are used for very deep water dives, and enable dieves in frigid polar waters for longer periods. One of the major benefits is that since they are fully pressurized, the diver does not have any of the problems with decompression normally encountered with stanadrd wetsuits and Scuba gear.

The US Army and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) have been working on various powered exoskeletons to aid soldiers in the field. Another project is the Future Warrior system. As well as the Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton , or BLEEX. With this stuff, we'd be ready to re-enact Starship Troopers as soon as the bugs get here.

One last one, was pointed out to me by a friend online (Thanks, Sam!).Due to the declining birthrate and "graying" of the population in Japan, taking care of the elderly is becoming a growing problem. The HAL or Hyper Assistive Limb, is a way that researchers think may help the aged to be able to be more self-sufficient.