The development of mind-controlled combat exoskeletons is under the way in Russia TASS 10302162

Defence & Security News - Russia
 
The development of mind-controlled combat exoskeletons is under the way in Russia
The development of mind-controlled combat exoskeletons is under the way in Russia, Alexander Kulish, chief, medical equipment development and production, United Instrument Corporation (UIC, a Rostec Corporation subsidiary), told TASS on Monday, February 1, 2016.
     
The development of mind-controlled combat exoskeletons is under the way in Russia, Alexander Kulish, chief, medical equipment development and production, United Instrument Corporation (UIC, a Rostec Corporation subsidiary), told TASS on Monday, February 1, 2016. French project of exoskeleton robot at Milipol paris, Security Exhibition in 2011
     
"We are looking into that; the development is under way. So far, the exoskeleton consists of a set of drives and a control system, but it needs a power supply; hence, a powerful self-contained battery has to be developed," he said.

According to him, current combat exoskeleton prototypes are cumbersome enough and of limited use in battle. "Now, they are used mostly to lift heavy objects that are too heavy for a person to lift," Kulish added.

In addition, control of exoskeletons has not reached the speed required for use in full-fledged combat. "It is easy to develop an exoskeleton itself, but it is difficult to teach it to receive command from the brain quickly," he stressed.

Kulish explained that there were several variants of controlling an exoskeleton, for instance a muscle interface. "We believe that the most effective exoskeleton control system is a neurointerface, i.e. controlling by mind. There is a problem in this respect, however, because we need to teach the computer to identify the signals issued by the human brain. The work is in full swing to develop advanced brain signal processing techniques," the defense industry official said.