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 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 it is the most successful UNSC powered armor project, MJOLNIR is by no means the only such effort to physically augment soldiers in combat. The HRUNTING Mark III (B) Exoskeleton and the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark I were exoskeleton systems derived from the earlier prototypes for the exoskeleton program which would become MJOLNIR.

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 by means of photoreactive panels, allowing covert operations in enemy territory. Even the Forerunners developed combat armor suits known as combat skins, using a class system based on numbers, on which the MJOLNIR Mark V would rate as a Class 2.

Known powered exoskeletons

 * Combat Skin
 * Hayabusa Powered Assault Armor
 * HRUNTING Mark III (B) Exoskeleton/Cyclops Mark I
 * Cyclops Mark II
 * HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark I Prototype Exoskeleton
 * Mark I, Mark II, and Mark III powered exoskeletons
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
 * Semi-Powered Infiltration armor