Building better powered body armor for the human race. apache open license free to copy modify.
This project is still in design phase, I am only showing my demo drafts/ older work.
Air powered hollow universal direction joint (shoulder, hip, bird-wing..) Locking, lightweight, free to move when off, scale-able, spin-able, stacked, boom or interlaced with up to 180+ degree configurations. For powered body armor, space suit, robots, in-ambulatory care, mobility assist, muscle rehab, rov, fire, scuba, avalanche survival, air to air refueling arm, mobile pipe, jet powered hydraulic megga-mecca, ornithopters, multi limbed- creatures …
Expanding hose with wipers "piston heads" get over pressure to lock the joint or contract open/off for freedom of movement when off and help to reclaim air and improve reaction time. Putting high pressure air on either side of the piston is what causes lifting power. Overall weight and lifting capacity depends on if you use 3 inch diameter 3,000psi concrete hose or 1/2 inch 100 psi hose, if you go hydraulic/steel/electric motors (1000+ pounds) instead of air its even heavier so you can't swim or walk in swamp/grass. it has to be light enough to put down the motor/compressor and walk easily.
On a shoulder joint 6 inch outside diameter, 1.5” thick using 1000 psi air (overkill) in 18, 1 inch interlinked run flat tubes(7 x 1000 psi pull 7 x 1000 psi push ( 4 are locked or pushing 2000lbs delta v)) =aprox 7,000 pounds of lift/torque. 18,000lbs pull in T pose, 36,000 deadlift. With a hard pivot like elbow 18,000lbs. Length is based on turn diameter and arc( 6” diam 180 deg = 9” long +2” for attachment rings) on a heavy duty joint the piston arms would not be strong enough so it would need a metal tube with rollers on the outside for support.
Pistons arms are steel or carbon fiber drilled for 1 to 4 air holes(air can be released from either side of the piston head or from the rings) piston heads are "airbags" hose or pneumatic “fluidic muscle” with inline air pressure sensing switches. Uses compressed air SCUBA 3000psi tank from hose/gas booster or backpack/shield motor/air-compressor. fighter pilot like g/flack feedback inner suit with pressure sensing pads to control on-board computer, Arduino/Raspberry Pi and valves. Armor can be chain mail, rubber and Kevlar weave, dovetail sliders or traditional steel/carbon fiber armor with hinges and pivots. The universal joint is needed for the shoulder/hip/waist/neck/wrist/foot with at least 3 actuators(18 or 20 best), for an elbow/knee you only need one valve/actuator... One could do much the same thing but in a much smaller space with rotofurl/ roll up air tubes, balance air pressure with spring and or stepper motor. (ps. the bent gold colored model in the first pic is too big to share, more verts than the whole level but works with nanite... you can't see the guts/piston rods in real life because they are covered inside and out with carbon/steel tubes and carbon fiber/rubber skin to keep out dirt)