The HULC comes at a critical time. U.S. Army reports show that 20,000 soldiers are classified as "non-deployable." Half of those were injured during battle. The other half cannot be deployed because of physical problems, such as an inability to haul heavy loads. HULC wasn't created to reduce injuries, but "if it does reduces injuries along the way, that is a positive for the war fighter," said Medcalf. Medcalf said they could design an exoskeleton that could carry more weight, but they don't expect their customers will need to carry more than 200 pounds at once. As a product of millions of years of evolution, the human body is naturally good at moving around, said Aaron Dollar, a professor of mechanical engineering at Yale University. Any attempt to improve on nature's design is a difficult engineering challenge. "Walking is one of the things that the human body is most efficient at," said Dollar. "Anytime something is really good, like human walking, it is hard to improve it." Related Links: |
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