A New Recruit - PORTON MAN

Meet Porton Man, an articulated, robotic mannequin, designed and built by i-bodi Technology for Dstl to test chemical and biological (CB) protective suits and equipment for the UK’s Armed Forces.  It is the latest mannequin development for i-bodi Technology, a company with 10 years experience of designing and building military test equipment for various defence organisations such as DRDC (Canada), DSTO (Australia), DGA (France) and Dstl (UK).

Porton Man, an articulated, robotic mannequin

Photos: Crown Copyright

Unique in its capabilities, Porton Man is designed to accurately represent the military user.  Using state of the art technology, this computer controlled mannequin is able to walk, march, run, sit, kneel and lift its arms as if sighting a weapon.  Jez Gibson Harris, CEO of i-bodi Technology said “Our brief was to produce a light-weight, robotic mannequin that had a wide range of movement, fitted the anthropometric data and was easy to handle”.  Porton Man was produced using chemically resistant, carbon composite body parts.  Weighing only 14kg, the mannequin is far lighter than its predecessors which were less advanced and weighed 80kg.  Dr Jaime Cummins from Dstl’s Protective Clothing, Chemical and Biological Protection Department said that “we will be able to assess and characterise protective clothing in ways which were not previously possible.  We are immensely proud to have this mannequin as part of our capability to protect against the threat posed by chemical and biological agents”.

I-bodi Technology have designed this robotic mannequin to have body sensors that are able to record data during tests using live or simulant agents and carry out real-time analysis.  This cutting edge technology will help design the next generation of protective suits and equipment enabling them to be tested in a realistic but secure environment.

The team at i-bodi Technology have a wealth of industry experience and specialise in providing intelligent solutions.  Mike Franklin, chief Design Engineer at i-bodi Technology, was recently awarded the BEEA Design Engineer of the Year 2014 and is testimony to his innovative designs within strict commercial limits.  Other projects include; the design and build of a computer controlled, sweating, heated head form (FARSS) to evaluate fogging and ice propagation in air crew, military and first responder respirators;  the Respirator Testing Head Form;  the CBplus Mannequin Technology System and FASTMAN, a Fully Articulated, Anthropometrically Correct, Sweating, Thermo-Regulated Mannequin.  I-bodi Technology are also specialists in Digital Breathing Machines, which can be used in conjunction with head forms or mannequins to simulate live participant breathing in respirator and head-wear evaluation studies and similar applications.

Philip Dunne, minister for defence equipment, support and technology, said, “This technology (Porton Man), designed by a British company is enabling the UK to lead the way in this important testing.  Increased investment in science and technology by the MoD (Ministry of Defence) is not only enabling battle-winning and life-saving equipment to be developed but also helping innovative companies like i-bodi Technology to develop cutting edge capability”.