NOTE:

The following posts are Preliminary Exo-Skeleton Prototypes MK Z- MKIII. These 4 suits were all custom created by A.J. Petersen. The purpose of their creation was to better prepare and troubleshoot for a full fledged working Prototype Exo Skeleton suit.

The following suits offer protection and a few even have gadgets installed in them. However, they are still considered to be "mock up" prototypes.

Currently a new suit is being created. the MK IV. It has been in production for over a year now and will represent the potential technological platform that Exo suits can be.

Stay tuned.

MK III

The MK II sat in my garage for 2 months straight. I had a nasty cut in the palm of my hand that healed almost instantly within the first week, but left very painful scar tissue inside my hand. That didn’t heal up until about 3 months later. Still hurts sometimes actually.

I was disillusioned with the whole thing and was beginning to second guess myself.

I wondered what my friends were probably thinking about me. I figured everyone thought I was a nut, building a suit of armor thinking it was going to start a new field in technology. Eventually making these suits for Firemen, Police, Search and Rescue, Soldiers etc.. I even stopped doodling in class.

Then I met a girl.

She saw the MK I, the remnants of the MK Z and demanded I show her the MK II.



Afterwards, she began scolding me for stopping. Exclaiming I was “Like a genius or something.” Not exactly powerful words of encouragement..



Luckily I wasn’t really listening to what she was saying, just surprised she was talking to me haha.

Needless to say, I got to work.

I scrapped the MKII for parts and fresh intellectual ground. I recounted the serious weight of the MKII and that it was a big problem. I knew I needed steel to retain structural integrity (against blunt trauma). Then I realized that weight wouldn’t matter if I could design the suit to stand by itself.. just like a person. All body weight on the legs and lower back!!

The MK IV was under way.

In a month I had finished a build, and plated it with sheet steel. The suit was pretty rickety, but with some tweaking and verbal pleading I got it to stand by itself!! Entering the suit in a quick manner was still a mystery, but this model was definitely a step in the right direction. The upper body, including the helmet, had become one piece. The same was true for the midsection, legs and boots. It had become a two piece suit.

In the early stages, I would put the upper armor on a table, while stepping into the lower armor. I could then easily bend down and slide into the upper armor. Once inside, I could stand up, causing the upper armor to slide down, clicking into place with the lower armor.

I envisioned a system in which the wearer would step down into the legs and mid section off of a waist high platform, while the upper armor was carefully lowered from above until clicking into place. The problem with this was that the arms wouldn’t articulate enough to allow it.

It was a great leap forward from putting the suit on one piece at a time though.

In overall weight, the suit weighed in at 45 lbs. It had minor aesthetics like blue lighting, black paint, exterior padding on the hands, elbows, chest and legs to protect others in the immediate area. The layering of sheet steel was effective in stopping projectiles moving under 500 fps. I supposed that chalks up to low speed shrapnel and baseballs thrown by Nomo.

Not too bad for a mock up prototype.




Also, just to explore the possibilities, I mounted a combustion cannon on the right shoulder. (I knew nothing aout pneumatic cannons yet) and a model rocket launcher on the left shoulder. I had previously been playing with the idea of creating a scenario test film to entertain friends.. basically a scenario film where the suit is used as a means to rescue imprisoned US soldiers.

Unfortunately I had finals that week..