Cross-cut: `exoskeleton`

Axis: form_factor

10 corpus entries disclose this tag.

Earliest disclosure: 1959-10

Listed in chronological order. Each entry’s prior_art_notes and disclosure_citation constitute the citeable prior art material.

Starship Troopers — Mobile Infantry powered armor (powered exoskeleton with HUD, multi-sensor suite, comms, biomonitoring) (1959-10)

id: heinlein-starship-troopers-powered-armor
corpus: fictional
form factor: exoskeleton
creator: Robert A. Heinlein
disclosure: Heinlein, Robert A. Starship Troopers, serialized as ‘Starship Soldier’ in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October-November 1959 (book edition 1959); the Mobile Infantry powered armor — a fully enclosing powered exoskeleton augmenting strength and mobility, with a HUD/’snoopers’, integrated radar/IR/audio sensors, encrypted comms, climate control, medical/biometric monitoring, and assistive control (‘the suit does part of your thinking for you’).
ip status: fictional
sensors: sensor-camera-ir, sensor-microphone-air, sensor-accelerometer
prior art notes: Discloses a fully enclosing powered exoskeleton integrating strength/mobility augmentation, a head-up display, a multi-modal sensor suite (radar, IR, audio), encrypted comms, environmental control, wearer biometric monitoring, and assistive autonomy. The foundational powered-armor-with-integrated-sensorium text. Relevant to powered-exoskeleton claims combining ‘a powered body-worn frame’, ‘a HUD’, ‘multiple environmental sensors’, ‘comms’, and ‘monitoring of the wearer’s vital signs’. § 103 motivation as of 1959. Cf. [[halo-mjolnir-armor]], [[crysis-nanosuit]], [[metroid-power-suit]], [[stark-iron-spider-suit]], [[darth-vader-life-support-suit]].

Darth Vader life-support suit (wearable respiratory support and biometric monitoring) (1977-05-25)

id: darth-vader-life-support-suit
corpus: fictional
form factor: garment
creator: George Lucas / Lucasfilm
disclosure: Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) (Lucasfilm / 20th Century Fox), released May 25, 1977; a full-body armored garment integrating a respiratory support apparatus, prosthetic-limb control, body-state monitoring, voice processing, and a chest-mounted control/status panel, keeping a critically injured wearer functional.
ip status: fictional
prior art notes: Discloses a wearable, full-body life-support garment integrating: an ambulatory respiratory-assist system; continuous monitoring of the wearer’s vital signs and prosthetic-limb state; a wearer-accessible control/status panel; prosthetic-limb actuation/control; and voice capture and processing. Relevant to wearable life-support and body-monitoring-garment claims combining ‘a body-worn garment’, ‘an integrated respiratory-support module’, ‘sensors monitoring the wearer’s vitals’, ‘an onboard status display/control’, and ‘prosthesis integration’. § 103 motivation that the ambulatory wearable life-support-and-monitoring suit was an articulated objective by 1977.

Metroid — Samus Aran’s Power Suit (powered armor with multi-mode scan visor and health/environment systems) (1986-08-06)

id: metroid-power-suit
corpus: fictional
form factor: exoskeleton
creator: Nintendo R&D1 / Retro Studios
disclosure: Metroid (Nintendo, released 6 August 1986; multi-mode visor system in Metroid Prime, 2002); a fully enclosing powered armored suit with a head-up display, switchable visor modes (combat, scan/analysis, thermal, X-ray), an integrated arm-mounted tool, energy reserves indicating health, and environmental adaptation modules (heat resistance, pressure sealing).
ip status: fictional
sensors: sensor-camera-thermal, sensor-camera-ir
prior art notes: Discloses a powered enclosing suit with a HUD, user-selectable visor modes (combat, scanning/analysis of objects in view, thermal, see-through), an integrated tool, an energy/health reserve indicator, and swappable environmental-protection modules. Relevant to powered-suit claims combining ‘a HUD with multiple selectable imaging/analysis modes’, ‘an integrated status reserve indicator’, and ‘environmental-adaptation modules’. § 103 motivation as of 1986 (multi-mode scan visor as of 2002). Cf. [[heinlein-starship-troopers-powered-armor]], [[halo-mjolnir-armor]], [[splinter-cell-trifocal-goggles]].

Wallace & Gromit ‘Techno Trousers’ (powered automated legwear) (1993-12-17)

id: wallace-gromit-techno-trousers
corpus: fictional
form factor: garment
creator: Nick Park / Aardman Animations
disclosure: The Wrong Trousers (Aardman Animations / BBC), broadcast December 17, 1993 — robotic trousers worn around the legs that walk under their own power, can be programmed to follow a route, and can be remotely commandeered, with the wearer carried along inside.
ip status: fictional
prior art notes: Discloses a powered lower-body garment (trousers) that actuates the wearer’s legs to produce locomotion, executes a pre-programmed route autonomously, and accepts override commands over a remote link. Relevant to powered-legwear / lower-body-exoskeleton claims combining ‘a garment worn about the legs’, ‘actuators driving leg motion’, ‘an autonomous gait controller’, and ‘a remote command interface’. § 103 motivation that the powered, autonomously-walking lower-body garment was an articulated objective by 1993.

Halo — MJOLNIR powered armor (powered exoskeleton with energy shield, HUD, integrated AI, and biofoam medical system) (2001-11-15)

id: halo-mjolnir-armor
corpus: fictional
form factor: exoskeleton
creator: Bungie Studios / Microsoft
disclosure: Halo: Combat Evolved (Bungie / Microsoft, released 15 November 2001); the MJOLNIR powered armor — strength/speed augmentation, a regenerating energy shield with a status meter, a HUD (motion tracker, ammunition, shield/health status, waypoints), an integrated companion AI (‘Cortana’) resident in the suit, automatic ‘biofoam’ wound sealing, vacuum/environmental sealing, and a neural interface to the wearer.
ip status: fictional
sensors: sensor-accelerometer
prior art notes: Discloses a powered enclosing suit integrating strength augmentation, a regenerating defensive field with a status indicator, a HUD (motion tracker, resource counters, health/shield meters, navigation waypoints), an on-board companion AI, automatic medical wound-sealing, environmental sealing, and a neural interface. Relevant to powered-armor claims combining ‘a HUD with health/resource/navigation overlays’, ‘an onboard AI assistant’, and ‘an integrated automatic medical-treatment system’. § 103 motivation as of 2001. Cf. [[heinlein-starship-troopers-powered-armor]], [[crysis-nanosuit]], [[stark-iron-spider-suit]].

Blue Beetle ‘Scarab’ — spine-attached adaptive armor generator with HUD and AI (2006-05)

id: blue-beetle-scarab
corpus: fictional
form factor: implantable
creator: Keith Giffen / John Rogers / Cully Hamner / DC Comics
disclosure: Blue Beetle (vol. 8) #1 (Marvel… DC Comics, May 2006), the Jaime Reyes incarnation; an alien biotechnological device that attaches to the host’s spine and on activation extrudes a full conformal armored exo-body with weapons, flight, sensors, a heads-up display, and a symbiotic on-board artificial intelligence.
ip status: fictional
sensors: sensor-camera-rgb, sensor-camera-ir
prior art notes: Discloses a spine-attached device that, on command, generates a conformal powered exo-body with integrated sensors, a near-eye HUD, and an on-board AI in symbiotic dialogue with the host. Relevant to implant-plus-exoskeleton claims combining ‘a body-attached generator unit’, ‘a deployable conformal powered suit’, ‘integrated sensing and a HUD’, and ‘an onboard assistant’. § 103 motivation as of 2006. Cf. [[stark-iron-spider-suit]], [[venom-symbiote-suit]].

Crysis — the ‘Nanosuit’ (mode-switchable nano-augmentation suit with HUD and neural integration) (2007-11-13)

id: crysis-nanosuit
corpus: fictional
form factor: garment
creator: Crytek / Electronic Arts
disclosure: Crysis (Crytek / EA, released 13 November 2007); the ‘Nanosuit’ — a body suit with user-selectable modes (armor, maximum strength, maximum speed, cloak), shared energy management across modes, an integrated HUD, environmental sealing, and (Crysis 2/3) direct interface with the wearer’s nervous system, even sustaining a critically injured host.
ip status: fictional
prior art notes: Discloses a powered body suit with discrete user-selectable operating modes (armor / strength / speed / cloak) drawing on a shared energy budget, an integrated HUD, environmental sealing, and a neural interface to the wearer with biometric monitoring. Relevant to powered-garment claims combining ‘a body-worn suit’, ‘multiple selectable augmentation modes sharing a power budget’, ‘a HUD’, and ‘a neural/biometric interface’. § 103 motivation as of 2007. Cf. [[halo-mjolnir-armor]], [[gantz-suit]], [[heinlein-starship-troopers-powered-armor]].

Dead Space — ‘RIG’ (suit with body-mounted health display and projected holographic UI) (2008-10-13)

id: dead-space-resource-integration-gear
corpus: fictional
form factor: garment
creator: EA Redwood Shores (Visceral Games) / Electronic Arts
disclosure: Dead Space (EA Redwood Shores / Electronic Arts, released 13 October 2008); the ‘Resource Integration Gear’ suit with a segmented LED strip on the wearer’s back/spine displaying current health (visible to others), oxygen monitoring, a holographic inventory/menu projected in front of the wearer, and a ‘stasis’ module.
ip status: fictional
algorithms: algo-spo2-estimation
prior art notes: Discloses a worn suit with (a) a body-mounted (spinal) physiological-status display readable by third parties, (b) oxygen-level monitoring, and (c) a holographic interface projected in the wearer’s view. Relevant to wearable-with-externally-visible-status-display claims combining ‘a body-worn garment’, ‘a sensor measuring a physiological parameter (e.g. SpO2 or general health state)’, and ‘a display on the garment surface presenting that parameter to onlookers’, and to body-projected holographic-UI claims. § 103 motivation as of 2008. Cf. [[logans-run-lifeclock]] (body-worn color status display), [[mass-effect-omni-tool]] (projected UI).

Elysium — surgically-integrated powered exoskeleton with neural control (2013-08-09)

id: elysium-bolt-on-exoskeleton
corpus: fictional
form factor: exoskeleton
creator: Neill Blomkamp / Media Rights Capital
disclosure: Elysium (TriStar Pictures / Media Rights Capital), released August 9, 2013; a powered exoskeleton bolted to the wearer’s skeleton and interfaced to the nervous system (with a head-mounted data port), augmenting strength and serving as a host platform for software/data.
ip status: fictional
sensors: sensor-emg
prior art notes: Discloses a powered exoskeleton rigidly coupled to the wearer’s skeleton and interfaced to the nervous system to read movement intent and augment force, while also functioning as an embedded compute/data platform. Relevant to powered-exoskeleton claims combining ‘a wearable frame coupled to the body’, ‘actuators augmenting limb force’, ‘a neural or EMG interface sensing movement intent’, and ‘an onboard processor’. § 103 motivation that the neurally-controlled bolt-on powered exoskeleton was an articulated objective by 2013.

Falcon — ‘EXO-7’ wing-pack exoskeleton with HUD goggles and tethered drone (2014-04-04)

id: falcon-exo7-wing-pack-and-goggles
corpus: fictional
form factor: exoskeleton
creator: Marvel Studios
disclosure: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Marvel Studios), released 4 April 2014; a back-mounted articulated wing-pack exoskeleton with HUD goggles for targeting/telemetry and a paired deployable reconnaissance drone (‘Redwing’) controlled from the rig.
ip status: fictional
sensors: sensor-camera-rgb
prior art notes: Discloses a body-worn articulated exoskeletal rig with integrated near-eye HUD goggles and a paired, rig-controlled drone whose camera feed appears in the wearer’s display. Relevant to wearable-exoskeleton claims combining ‘a body-mounted articulated assembly’, ‘a head-worn display’, and ‘control of a tethered/paired drone with its feed shown to the wearer’. § 103 motivation as of 2014. Cf. [[aliens-marine-helmet-cam]] (networked body-cam), [[snow-crash-gargoyle-rig]].

Cross-cut: exoskeleton