In most fiction, power armor is often seen as either clunky, brawling beasts (fallout, warhammer to an extent, the matrix) or insanely over-powered, agile death suits (also warhammer, crysis, halo ((depending on if the mjolnir is power armor or not)) and most top down sony games).
In real life however, power armor is NOTHING like an actual suit. It is to begin with not an armor, it is more the likes of a step in, walking forklift used for heavy lifts. Also, it is always powered by cord, making them clumsy.
But ive looked around, trying to find a solution, and so far ive come up with nothing more then a general idea, but maybe /sci can help me.
A "power armor suit" needs a few things to be worth it and to be classified as one:
>A frame to put armor parts on
>Smooth movements, if you are to aim a gun you need to have a smooth arm and so on
>A balanced weight
>A strong material
>Untethered power source
I imagine hydraulics, if fine-tuned, would be the best, and most power efficient way or movement. With pressure sensitive pads on the inside of the arm frame that moves the arm with the movement of the user, you dont need to use muscle as much. Electric servos was an idea, but again, they cost too much power to be worth while.
Armor wise, any plates that stop at least heavy caliber rifles should do it. the chance of surviving a rocket launcher or mine blast is minimal even in armored vehicles, so you the smaller target will have to be enough in my opinion.
The others I dont really know, except power source. I do believe that atomic batteries could be made efficient, and able to power a suit for basicly half a lifetime. Yes, its kinda stealing from fallout, but honestly its not a bad concept, as long as you have radiation shielding.
Help me out here sci, what am I missing, what could be improved, questions?