In nature exoskeletons have been around for millions of years... at least 215 million years if you take an example of a turtle. Turtle is like a fortress - indestructibly, but at the same time very slow. It is always at home, but it is not very mobile. It swims fine, but does not run.
as turtle grows, the exoskeleton grows with it resulting in an amazing shell growth. Interestingly the pattern follows the same rule as fullerenes
a.k.a. C60's. Fullerenesare molecular structures that make nanomaterials. They are a a family of carbon allotropes, molecules composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, tube, or plane. Buckminsterfullerene or buckyball is smalles and most common in nature.
Engineered furlenes are forming carbon nanotubes & nanobuds and are basis of nanoTechnology - technology of the future. Another interesting area of mterials engineering are Electroactive polymers - artificial muscles. Oone example is IPMC, a.k.a. Ionic Polymer Metal Composite or Compound. "Developed for use as artificial muscles, IPMc can result in a large shape deformation by applying a low voltage (from 1 to 5 volts). Applying a mechanical force to the substance will result in a proportional voltage being applied onto the surface. Because of this it can be used both as a sensor and an actuator." Which leads to the current developments in artificial Exoskeletons for human use.
Much of the development has been done in/for the military sector, such as this exoskeleton lightweight armor developped at Berkley. Here again the singularity between what is sci-fi and a future concept being presented or sold to the military commanders.
an interesting - cnn report on current exoskeleton robotics development.
