Powered exoskeleton

Powered Armor is a name for currently fictional futuristic armored suits worn by individual soldiers in battle. The concept occurs in many places in fiction. Typically the suit provides protection not only from enemy fire but also from environmental hazards. Because the great weight of such a suit would be impractical for a man to wear without assistance, such suits are typically portrayed as providing 'power assist' to their wearers, enabling them to move around within the suit as though unencumbered.

Unlike giant robot mecha, powered armor is usually not much larger than a human. In fact, it is more accurately described as a battlesuit with mechanical and electronic mechanisms designed to augment the wearer's abilities. These typically include an exoskeleton for physical augmentation, internal life support for hostile environments, weapons systems and transportation mechanisms that would allow the wearer to fly, for example.

The definitive example of this is the Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man who is an industrialist who fights evil and protects his company with special armour suits of his own design. The American author Robert Heinlein’s novel Starship Troopers involves this type of Mecha, and indeed it can be seen as the story which spawned the entire sub-genre concept of "powered armor". The movie series The Matrix (Parts 2 and 3) also features powered armor: The A.P.U. (Armored Personnel Unit).

Anime and Manga often feature powered armor. Masamune Shirow uses powered armor in most of his stories. Bubblegum Crisis, probably the definitive Japanese 'mechanized armor' series, features vigilante/mercenary women making use of powered armor.

The Fallout computer game series is also famous for its use of power armors in retro-50s style.

There is a general difference in style between powered armor in Japanese fiction and American-style powered armor. Japanese powered armor tends to be sleek and more refined, with the equivalent of a car's outer body to cover internal systems. American (or Western) powered armor is much more modular: internal machinery is left partially or entirely exposed, and it is much more rugged in appearance. The dichotomy in design schemes follows this argument: In the Japanese powered armor, vital internal machinery is covered and thus protected from external harm and danger; in American powered armor, internal machinery is not covered so there is easy access to systems, for rapid maintenance and repair, as well as making it easier for an operator to custom-modify a design. The Power Loader from Aliens and the A.P.U.'s from Matrix: Revolutions are good examples of Western-styled Powered Armor. The Mechs of the Battletech (Mechwarrior) universe are also examples of this exposed, easily modifiable design scheme. (Ironically, Battletech initially used designs from several Japanese animated series, but Battletech now uses in-house designs exclusively after a lawsuit was settled out of court.]

The powered armor suit of Starship Troopers is also a more Western-styled powered armor due to its modular nature (sections can be replaced for maintenance/repair in the field). (Ironically, there is a Japanese animated version of Starship Troopers with mechanical designs by Studio Nue of Macross fame and animation by Sunrise of Mobile Suit Gundam fame. Studio Nue also illustrated the cover of the Japanese edition of the Starship Troopers novel, and Studio Nue founder Haruka Takachiho brought the novel to the attention of the creators of Mobile Suit Gundam during pre-production.)

Powered armor suits are sometimes called Combat Armor Suits, battlesuits or powered suits.