Just the other day we published a story about IBM’s scheme to push the wearer of their new armor out of the way of a bullet with their name on it. This odd tale has taken another turn, this time, IBM has withdrawn its patent application. Apparently, the publicity was too much, either that or someone realized how hard this was going to be. At any rate, it’s gone, at least for now.
Remember watching the character Neo in the Matrix dodge bullets? Well apparently this has also been an obsession of engineers at IBM who were just awarded a patent for “bionic body armor” designed to scan for projectiles fired from a firearm. If one is detected, the system would deliver a shock to the muscles causing a swift, reflexive action away from the bullet. Something tells me that is going to leave a bruise.
The present invention relates generally to the protection of an individual against a projectile propelled from a firearm. More particularly, the present invention relates to a body armor system and its method of use that is capable of detecting a projectile propelled from a firearm, computing the trajectory of the projectile, and moving the individual out of the path of the projectile to avoid being hit.
