Powered armor (also mechanized, battle, personal armor and suits) is a science fiction concept referring to a type of armored self-powered exoskeleton that is typically intended for use in battle, construction and survival in dangerous enviroments. Because the great weight of such a suit would be impractical for a human to wear without assistance, such suits are typically portrayed as providing enhanced strength and mobility to their wearers by some means (be it hydraulics or anti-gravity), enabling them to move around while wearing the suit as though unencumbered. One can consider modern spacesuits a very early type of unarmed powered armor.

In most Western portrayals of powered armor, the suit 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. In addition to the benefits provided by the exoskeleton, other popular features include internal life support for hostile environments, protection from environmental hazards such as radiation and vacuum, weapons targeting systems, firearms affixed directly to the suit itself, and transportation mechanisms that allow the wearer to fly.

Japanese animation (anime) and comics (manga) often feature powered armor in the mecha subgenre; both the subgenre and the suits are called "mecha". Most mecha are not human-enhancing exoskeletons so much as human-operated robots, although there are some exceptions to the rule. The distinction between smaller mecha and their smaller cousins (and likely progenitors), the powered armor suits, is blurred; according to one definition, a mecha is piloted while a powered armor is worn. Anything large enough to have a cockpit where the pilot is seated is generally considered a mecha. Masamune Shirow uses powered armor in most of his stories, where the suits are usually referred to as "Landmates". Bubblegum Crisis, probably the definitive Japanese "mechanized armor" series, features vigilante/mercenary women making use of powered armor.

There is a general difference in style between Japanese-style and Western-style powered armor. Japanese powered armor tends to be sleek and more refined, with the equivalent of a car's outer body to cover vital internal systems. Western powered armor is much more modular and rugged in appearance; internal machinery is left partially or entirely exposed, granting 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 (Armored Personnel Units) from the The Matrix Revolutions are good examples of Western-styled powered armor. The Mechs of the Battletech/Mechwarrior anime series are also examples of this exposed, easily modifiable design scheme. Ironically, Battletech initially used designs from several Japanese animated series, but now uses in-house designs exclusively after a lawsuit was settled out of court.

The powered armor suit of Robert Heinlein’s novel 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. Starship Troopers can be seen as the story which spawned the entire sub-genre concept of "powered armor". 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 that series' pre-production.

Numerous American comic book characters use powered armor, primarily the Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man, who is an industrialist who fights evil and protects his company with a special suit of powered armor of his own design. Other notable powered armor users in Western comics include Steel, X-O Manowar and the supervillain Doctor Doom. The Fallout computer role-playing game series is notable for its use of powered armors in retro-'50s style. Powered armor is heavily used in the Rifts role-playing game, to allow weak and mundane humans to compete in combat with supernatural and super-powerful monsters. Games Workshop´s science fiction world Warhammer 40,000 is most famous for Space Marines, the ultimate genetically engineered superhuman warriors who wear ancient powered armors that are seen almost as godlike in their lost technology.

An alternative sf concept to the powered armor would be the skinsuit.

External link

• Wired Magazine Issue 13.01 | Jan 2005 - Tetsujin (http://wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/ironmen.html), the world's first exoskeleton weight-lifting competition