Back in March, Navy Admiral William McRaven announced the military’s plans to put together a prototype of what is essentially a real-life Iron Man suit. Known as TALOS (Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit), these super soldier garbs really do seem like a creation from the brilliant mind of Tony Stark. Ideally, the prototype would come complete with weapons, bullet-proof armor, enhanced strength capabilities, an ability to monitor vitals and hopefully an iPhone dock and Keurig.
As the military advances its planning of the TALOS, it obviously looked to the authority on military technology: Hollywood. Legacy Effects, the creator of the Iron Man suit, is teaming up with the military to help create the TALOS.
In addition to working on practical effects for pretty much every blockbuster since 2009, Legacy Effects also contributed to character designs for ‘Godzilla’ and ‘Avatar’. The company will also be involved in the upcoming ‘Terminator: Genesis’ and ‘Jurassic World’.
So, I guess if the military is keen on making a dinosaur they can also look to Legacy Effects for that undertaking.
Creating an actual military suit is quite different for Legacy founder Lindsay MacGowan.
“When you’re doing something for a movie it is all make-believe,” she told ‘The Wall Street Journal’. “Whereas, for the military, that’s really not going to be the case.”
Legacy Effects is teaming up with Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Raytheon to create the TALOS. Furthermore, Legacy Effects will be working closely with Ekso Bionics, a company that creates exoskeleton materials. Engineers plan on studying the movement of insects and sumo wrestlers to help grasp the full capacity of an exoskeleton and how people can gracefully move with a lot of weight on their body. In fact, developers have estimated that the suit could weigh up to 400 pounds.
The military has already spent $10 million on the TALOS project and plans to utilize these suits by 2018.
Source: The Verge
