By 2040, AI exoskeletons will make us as powerful as a forklift truck and give us extra limbs and senses, top futurist predicts
Ever seen Pacific Rim, the film about giant mechanical soldiers scrapping with monsters? Yeah, that - but without the monsters
WE'RE just decades away from marching around in robot suits which turn us weaklings into superhumans with extra senses and bonus limbs.
Ever seen Pacific Rim, the film about giant mechanical soldiers scrapping with monsters? Yeah, that - but without the monsters.
At least, that's according to Dr Ian Pearson, a top futurologist with a proven record for predicting what lies in store.
The Sun Online spoke to the forward-thinking tech expert after we revealed that the US army is creating a division of super-soldiers equipped with AI exoskeletons which boost their strength and endurance.
But, believe it or not, we haven't seen anything yet.
Exoskeletons, suits of robot armour you wear outside your body, will soon be commonplace among the armed forces, Dr Pearson predicts, and he says we've got an all-new arms race on our hands.
The futurologist said: "The military wants super-strength soldiers and the rest of us don't stand much of a chance.
"We'll have soldiers with super senses who can see infra-red, ultraviolet and magnetic fields and who can run faster and throw harder."
But it's not just armies which can benefit from this incredible tech, which is already starting to emerge in robotics research labs.
Dr Pearson predicts exoskeleton tech will trickle down to the point where it's used by emergency services and then, soon enough, normal civilians.
He said: "When you've got an earthquake or a fire, you really want the emergency services to have super strength too.
"If you put them in an exoskeleton, fire fighters could see through walls and just walk through the flames like Robocop."
The futurologist added that sports could also be revolutionised with the help of mech tech - creating whole events where athletes are allowed to compete with the help of robot exoskeletons.
Dr Pearson added: "In 2050 or thereabouts you'll probably start to see exoskeletons being used in a different stream of the Olympics."
And the medical implications of this tech are enormous.
Already, scientists are working on electroactive polymers - materials which can function as artificial muscles.
Dr Pearson said: "You can weave those into fabrics, in principle, and already they're 15 times stronger than human muscles, weight for weight.
"You could imagine your 85-year-old grandmother putting on a pair of compression tights and that would strengthen her legs so she could run around again and climb mountains."
And it may sound like wild science-fiction - but these amazing inventions really aren't that far away.
Dr Pearson predicts that super soldiers could become commonplace among special forces units in the next five to 10 years, with emergency services exoskeletons less than five years behind.
He added: "When you get towards the late 2040s, you'll probably start seeing quite a lot of medical use to help disabled people or old and frail people.
"With hydraulic suits, you could probably get hundreds of times stronger than a normal human being because you're essentially sticking that person inside a walking JCB."
These suits, which could make us "as powerful as a forklift truck", can also be weaponised... with terrifying potential.
By stepping into a hydraulic exoskeleton, normal soldiers can become hulking, tank-like monsters, lumbering though the battlefield in a suit of armour bristling with weapons.
You can also use this tech to add extra, fully-functioning limbs, and boost your senses using built-in computers.
The futurologist points to existing tech for fighter pilots, who can control weapons systems by looking in the direction of a target.
And we're just getting started.
Dr Pearson said: "Pacific Rim takes exoskeletons to their logical conclusion, where you have two men in the head of a 100-metre-high robot and they control it like it was their body.
"This is well explored in science-fiction but there's nothing to stop this being made in real life."
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This isn't the first time we've taken you to the future.
Previously, we revealed Dr Pearson's bold predictions for the future of healthcare... from 'magic' pills to fight obesity to robot doctors in our homes.
We also shared the futurologist's predictions for what our homes will be like in 2050.