The Method 2 Robotic Exoskeleton makes science fiction a reality

The idea of wearing a robotic exoskeleton to increase an individual’s combat capabilities isn’t a new one in science fiction.  I grew up watching cartoons like Exo-Squad and movies like Aliens, where Sigourney Weaver taught me that hell hath no fury like a woman wearing a hydraulic exo-suit.  The Fallout series of video games relies heavily on “power armor” – or armored exo-skeletons designed to afford infantry soldiers the same level of protection usually found only in tanks, and Iron-Man launched the Marvel cinematic universe with a flying set of robotic armor and some cheeky one liners.  Movies like Pacific Rim would have us believe that the best way to engage Godzilla-sized monsters is with Godzilla-sized robots, and although the logistics of that seem fuzzy, it’s cool enough for me to agree without much deeper thought.

When Colonel Army Marine Kill Guy from Avatar (seriously, did anyone watch that movie more than once?) decided to take on a tribe of blue space hippies, his go-to weapon wasn’t small pox like it likely should have been, it was a robot covered in machine guns, and as a movie goer, I was immediately down with that.  The thing is, I’d always been under the impression that the AT-AT style Imperial Walkers I saw on Star Wars were mere flights of fancy – too advanced, or impractical, to ever see legitimate use in a combat situation.

But one South Korean tech company just unveiled a robot that might turn science fiction into reality.