Kerala student builds a working Iron Man exosuit for just US $750
MUMBAI: 
The engineering student from Kerala designed a robotic suit capable of lifting 150 kilograms, and wants to build it for the military. Ever wished you could have your own Iron Man suit of armour? Clearly, uber-geek Vimal Govind Manikandan did. But instead of pining and wishing like most of us would, he just went ahead and built his own.
Sure, the suit can’t fly, and by Manikandan’s own admission isn’t very good at walking either, but that doesn’t in any way diminish the achievement. The engineering student from Malappuram was looking to build an exosuit for the military and in heavy industry, one that can used to lift weights human’s can’t, among other jobs.
According to Al Jazeera, the suit weighs 220 pounds (approximately 100kg), and can lift 330 pounds(approximately 150kg) using a combination of battery-powered hydraulics. The best part? It cost Manikandan and his team only about US $750, or roughly Rs 50,000, to make. That might seem like a lot of money, but it’s important to keep in mind that even some of the cheapest exosuits for people with walking disabilities cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.
In fact, Manikandan’s paper (which you can find here) has been internationally recognised. His idea was voted the best of 13 countries at the International Conference on Mechatronics and Manufacturing (ICMM 2016).
According to the AJ report, Manikandan says he was inspired by Hollywood movies to build the robot, especially the exosuits in the Avatar movie. In fact, this is isn’t even Manikandan’s first exosuit. His team built their first prototype back in 2015, which was much larger but mechanically-powered.
Manikandan says his team are working on improving the prototype, especially to fix it’s walking ability, which is a little restricted right now. But until we can get a glimpse of Manikandan’s perfected exosuit, you can instead watch a man-machine hybrid dance, to pass the time.
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