3D Printing the Future Soldier

The American Military has contracted Hollywood special effects companies who made Iron Man to help them design a military exoskeleton for their soldiers, and they’re using 3D printers to help them do it. 3D printing allows the designers to go through iterations much faster so they can figure out what works and what doesn’t, which brings them to the final design much faster. Unfortunately for the “Iron Man” suit project the problems seem to stem less from the aesthetic design, and more from power supply side of things. The battery necessary to power such a suit right now is obscenely heavy, and unless a lightweight power source is invented that can easily be incorporated into such suits, combat units with “Iron Men” in them may still be in the distant future.