Canadian Inventor Uses Home-Made Iron Man Suit to Lift a Car

Iron Man

It seems Jason Hobson, a Canadian inventor nicknamed "The Hacksmith," has found a way to be an Avenger in real life. Using his home-made exoskeleton, Hobson was able to lift a Mini Cooper a foot off the ground quite easily.

However, his technology falls a little short of Iron Man’s shiny red and gold armor (the ability to fly is, sadly, lacking).

Still, with just an exoskeleton attached to his legs, Hobson lifted the car’s rear up in the air, with the mechanical legs and pneumatic cylinders taking the weight with ease. "Getting the strength to lift a car was quite easy. I had a pair of 63mm bore diameter pneumatic cylinders, which at 125PSI are capable of lifting over 800lbs a piece," Hobson explained his blog.

In Hobson’s YouTube post, the inventor was also seen using his super-strength exoskeleton to curl a 176 pound barbell (80kg) without breaking a sweat.

Watch Hobson demonstrate his technology here--

 

Hobson’s Suit

While Hobson admits that the aesthetics of his exoskeleton is still a little crude, he is working towards improving the design and combining upper and lower body exoskeletons to create a more streamlined and fully functional, real-life Iron Man suit (one that, he hopes, could even allow the wearer to run).

In terms of application, the technology could prove to be useful in various industries, such as construction, military research, and even emergency response.

We already use many tools that take advantage of leverage and gear ratios, so what if we could create an exoskeleton that did what the bicycle did for transportation, but  with strength? Could this tech allow humans to achieve superhuman levels of strength, taking us past what our own bodies can handle?

This is exactly what Hobson is hoping to do.

Currently, exoskeleton technology is being employed in some industries in Korea, where dock workers are equipped with body frames to carry heavy steel. Allegedly, the US military is also researching the technology to develop a suit called Talos that will allow soldiers to be outfitted in full body armor that gives them super-strength to carry powerful firearms.