There's unfortunately no secret shortcut to building muscle and toning your body. But if you're just after the extra strength, not the six-pack abs, the TitanArm exoskeleton lets you cheat your way to impressive feats of heavy lifting.

If you're an arthropod, molting your exoskeleton is one of those uncomfortable realities of life. (Hello, spider crab!) Just ask this Burgundy Goliath Birdeater tarantula (Theraphosa stirmi), who can rock up to an 11-inch legspan. Even this critter must discard his exoskeleton every so often — here's some footage of…

If you thought the Mommy Tummy pregnancy simulator was hilarious, try this exoskeleton on for size. This is AGNES (Age Gain Now Empathy System), a suit by MIT's AgeLab that simulates what it's like to be in your mid-seventies. It's not recommended for fisticuffs with xenomorphs.

We've seen some fairly convincing power loader facsimiles before, but this refurbished Ditch Witch by Raytheon-Sarcos — who are also experimenting with robotic exoskeletons — isn't that far off from James Cameron's original vision.

Soldiers: Your underwear of the future will do more than prevent crotch rot. It'll protect you from injuries, monitor your vitals, and even "harvest" your energy. That is, if a new project from Darpa's Defense Sciences Office works out as planned. That's an illustration, to the right, of what Darpa thinks its "Warrior Web" …

This is MABEL, a bipedal robot who currently resides in a lab at the University of Michigan. Although MABEL has no head and needs a guiding bar to navigate its tiny gymnasium, this jogging robot can maintain an eerily human 6.8-mile-per-hour strut.

PBS Newshour recently did a neat segment on the various advancements in medical bionics, such exoskeletons and biomimetic arms. The segment also featured amputee athlete Aimee Mullins, who's competed with carbon-fiber "cheetah leg" protheses.

We've had brain-computer interfaces for years now, as well as mind-controlled prosthetic limbs. Now neuroscientists have taken it to the next level, with a system that would allow you to control a super-powered exoskeleton using only your thoughts.