Army and MIT Aim to Create Super-Soldiers
By Paul Roberts
IDG.NET — Germ-resistant fabrics, flexible body armor and super-strong artificial exomuscles were on display Thursday as scientists, U.S. Army officers and industry representatives gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to dedicate the new home of the Institute of Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN).
The new facility, housed in a former office building on MIT’s Cambridge, Massachusetts campus, contains 28,000 feet of new research labs and offices for scientists who are looking at ways to apply nanoscience — the study of very small objects — to the task of increasing the survival rates of soldiers.
In an exhibit hall set up in the Institute’s lobby, U.S. Army soldiers wearing uniforms of the future and looking like extras from a futuristic Hollywood action film circulated in a crowd sprinkled with Army officers, corporate executives and curious reporters.
Replete with exoskeleton-type attachments, the uniforms were mock-ups of wearable technology that is in the early stages of development, as well as technology that is years away from realization, such as lightweight uniforms that continuously monitor soldiers’ health and treat injuries on the spot.
The ISN was founded in March, 2002, with a $50 million grant from the U.S. Army, and is intended to combine basic and applied research in an effort to foster the next generation of battlefield armor and protective gear, according to MIT.
Preliminary research is focused on three areas: protection, performance improvement and injury intervention, MIT said.
In practice, that will mean applying cutting-edge science to age old problems such as keeping out moisture and fashioning garments that are light and comfortable to wear, according to Dr. Edwin Thomas of MIT, a professor in Materials Science and Engineering.
Indeed, when asked by one reporter what he would like to get out of the new combat suits, a soldier dressed in futuristic battle armor named “itching” and “rashes” as two areas for improvement.
But rashes are the least of the problems facing U.S. soldiers these days, who typically carry more than 45 kilograms of gear, according to Thomas.
“Right now soldiers are carrying a heavy load, but they’re not well protected,” Thomas said. “We need to make technology that’s robust. These are 18 year-olds using it, they’re running with it in deserts and swamps, they’re part of a team and must communicate.”
While developments like exomuscles may be years away, Thomas described nanocoatings for fabrics that could provide better waterproofing and a new generation of body armor as “low hanging fruit” that could be available within two or three years.
MIT is hoping that the ISN’s unconventional “open” structure will foster the creativity to solve such problems more quickly.
Unlike traditional university research organizations that do work for the military, the ISN stresses a multidisciplinary approach to research and close involvement with what MIT terms its “industrial partners” such as DuPont Co., Raytheon Co., and Partners HealthCare System Inc., according to Thomas.
Seven interdisciplinary teams have been created to address various technology and challenges such as Energy-Absorbing Materials and Sensors and Chemical/Biological Protection.
The idea is to foster a dynamic work environment that is adaptable and focused on turning ideas into useable products, Thomas said.
“It’s not the ‘same old same old,’ where professors set up their labs then have them until their death. (ISN) will change as new people come in,” Thomas said.
ISN’s industry partners will be responsible for coaxing basic research in the direction of developing useable technology, according to Thomas.
“Our industrial partners are there to engage the scientists — they want to know what the impact is, and not just the basic science, which is what MIT is really good at,” Thomas said.
At a nearby table, Dr. Wayne Marsh, research manager at Dupont Central Science & Engineering showed off some of his company’s wares. Among them is a prototype uniform lined with a “permeable selective membrane,” developed by DuPont, that permits moisture and air to flow through it while stopping chemical and biological agents from penetrating the fabric.
DuPont will have between 14 and 20 employees working across the seven ISN disciplinary teams, Marsh said.
Those scientists will bring backgrounds and expertise from a host of areas such as organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, mechanical engineering and chemical engineering, he said.
The value of the new Institute is its single-minded focus, he said.
“The Army has a clear vision of what they want to have and what they’re shooting for,” Marsh said.
That will make it easier for companies like DuPont to turn raw scientific breakthroughs coming out of the lab into specifications for new products — and give the company confidence that there’s a buyer waiting for the products once they have been completed, Marsh said.
With 47 projects currently ongoing, the ISN will initially occupy just four floors of the renovated eight-story building.
Upstairs in the laboratories, rooms with labels like “tissue culture lab” are filled with gleaming new equipment.
Demonstration tables manned by doctoral students displayed some of the basic science that is being adapted for use on the battlefield.
At one table, Dr. Gareth McKinley, an MIT professor in Mechanical Engineering, demonstrates how fluid-like suspensions of nanoparticles called magneto-rheological (MR) fluids might be used to create a new generation of flexible body armor.
Holding a beaker of grayish green liquid sludge over a large magnet, McKinley shows how the liquid turns instantly into a solid form when exposed to a magnetic field.
MR fluids could be used to create a flexible armor system that was capable of instantly hardening when hit by a bullet or shrapnel, he said.
Standing nearby, two graduate students in the new program looked on.
“This is great,” said Jian Yu, a second-year doctoral student in Chemical Engineering, referring to the new program.
“Everything is new and they’ve assembled all these people from different fields; Materials Science, Chemical Engineering — I’m excited,” he said.
Timothy Scott, a first-year doctoral student in Mechanical Engineering agreed, saying he came to MIT from Tufts University specifically to be a part of the ISN program.
While the move to new facilities is an inconvenience, both students expressed optimism about the program’s future.
Asked if the pressure to turn out not just cutting-edge research but also products that can be used by the Army would be a distraction, both Yu and Scott said it wouldn’t.
“Let the professors worry about it,” Yu said.
—–
On the Net:
Massachusettes Institute of Technology
More science, space, and technology from RedNova
Copyright © 2003 IDG.NET. All rights reserved.