[humbledrone]

It seems feasible to design an exoskeleton suit that is mechanically incapable of breaking your bones. You could pick some flexibility constraints that define a conservative model of how human limbs can bend and swivel, and then design the hardware with physical interlocks that prevent it from moving beyond those limits. Picture an elbow joint that has a metal flange situated such that if the motor tried to extend the arm beyond the normal human straight elbow angle it would be mechanically blocked.

The thing that I find more worrisome is the fact that little squishy people will be handling things that are so heavy that, if fumbled, would carry enough momentum to rip right through them. Imagine letting a 250 kg piece of metal slip -- if it hit your flesh, that's a problem. Once the strength of these suits gets high enough to handle loads like that I think we'll have to see more actual exoskeleton armor to protect the pilots.

[Cthulhu_]

A 100kg limit is feasible, that's not yet heavy enough (I think?) to cause major damage if a mishap happens. ATM workers are handling loads like that - and heavier - with cranes and clever tools that make the pieces they handle effectively weightless (check car assembly workers for example), those also don't carry that much risk when handled right. Laws and regulations for these will be just as stringent as other industrial tools, I'm sure.

[michaelt]

Your basic steel toe cap work boots have a toe cap rated for a 200 joule impact. That's equivalent to a 20kg weight dropped from 1 meter.

I sure wouldn't want to drop 100kg of weight on my foot from 1 meter :)