Powered exoskeleton

A powered exoskeleton is a powered mobile machine consisting primarily of a skeleton-like framework worn by a person and a power supply that supplies at least part of the activation-energy for limb movement.

Description
Powered exoskeletons are designed to assist and protect the wearer. They may be designed, for example, to assist and protect soldiers and construction workers, or to aid the survival of people in other dangerous environments. A wide medical market exists in the future as prosthetics to provide mobility assistance for aged and infirm people. Other possibilities include rescue work, such as in collapsed buildings, in which the device might allow a rescue worker to lift heavy debris, while simultaneously protecting him from falling rubble.

While the most successful UNSC powered armor project, MJOLNIR is by no means the only such effort to physically augment soldiers in combat. After the failures of the Mark I, II and III MJOLNIR suits, the UNSC Marine Corps began development of its own powered armor, the Cyclops, originally developed for shock infantry, then repurposed as heavy lifting equipment, then repurposed again as field technicians and demolitions units. RKD, an Earth think-tank, created the HAYABUSA project concurrently with MJOLNIR and while the two were developed separately, they share many characteristics, and are interchangeable to a degree. Spartan-III supersoldiers use Semi-Powered Infiltration Armor which, although nowhere near the capabilities of MJOLNIR, provides effective active camouflage, allowing covert operations in enemy territory. Even the Covenant make use of powered armor, especially the Brute Powered Armor and the Sangheili Combat Harness, though their need for extra augmentation is lessened somewhat by the two species’ natural physical prowess. Even the Forerunners developed combat skins, using a class system based on numbers, on which the MJOLNIR Mark V would rate as a class two.

Known powered exoskeletons

 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
 * Cyclops
 * Hayabusa Powered Assault Armor
 * Semi-Powered Infiltration Armor
 * Prototype Powered Exoskeleton
 * Combat skin