How far off are scientists from developing human exoskeletons?

From Aliens to Iron Man, movies and TV have featured ability-enhancing suits for years. Steven Cutts asks whether reality will be catching up to science fiction in the near future

Tougher stuff: some companies want to use exoskeletons to mitigate workplace injury (Getty/iStock)

Since the beginning of time, humans have been disappointed by our own frailty. Our bodies are just too prone to falling, crushing or strangulation. Everything from magic potions to medieval suits of armour have been tried to address this problem and in the last few decades, the idea of some fundamental advance in human strength has finally become possible.

Like a lot of modern ideas, it first came to prominence on the big screen. In Aliens, Sigourney Weaver manages to find one of the hydraulically powered exoskeletons, just before the Acheron Queen alien tries to take a bite out of her friend Newt. Ordinarily, hand-to-hand combat with xenomorphs is the kind of thing I like to advise people against, but if you can get the right equipment, you’re in with a sporting chance.

James Cameron’s Aliens was released in 1986 and he seems to have been so enamoured with the idea of a mechanical device amplifying a person’s physical strength that he gave it even more onscreen time in 2009’s Avatar.