/diy/ - Do It Yourself

I put a lot of thought into "power armor" as a future war concept in my free time, and I'm more impressed with the designs I saw on Code Geass than with the Iron Man suit. Though these designs I picked up are more Mecha, I think a more miniaturized version could be achievable for a mobile infantry unit. Make the leg units more solid, the whole build wider for stability(see the lower profile evolution of tanks). Use this foundation to build some powerful actuators on top of, attach a heavy machine gun to one arm and a kind of hydraulic Swiss army knife to the other(half size jaws of life, power drill, etc).

As for power, I can see them having on limited battery supply, recharging wirelessly by orbiting a series of power-trucks that direct microwaves at fold out antenna panels. Think of them as tactically useful as raiders, quick in and out like assault squads: well trained and heavily armed. Or also for logistical, mechanics, or future sapper templates. The balance between protection and mobility is always an issue with making your soldiers armored. I think limited flak and rifle fire protection is good; integrate some sort of crude missile interception system if possible. Imagining their max speed to be around 40mph on even terrain, but this stuff is really just imaginative theory, haven't had much of any time to break down the math or anything. If you guys were interested I might be able to do some rough sketches of this concept.