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Have you ever daydreamed about having superhuman strength so you can lift weights with such ease it was like picking up a feather? Well, now one man has man this dream a reality.

Incredible suits capable of lifting heavy weights have been developed by universities and the military, but until now the technology was prohibitively expensive.

Now a US engineer has made his own exoskeleton using scraps of metal to make his dream of having superhero powers a reality.

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Making light of the situation: James Hobson, a Californian engineer who is known as The Hacksmith, has demonstrated his DIY exoskeleton by lifting a 171.5lbs (78kg) breeze block barbell, pictured in this screen shot

James Hobson, a Californian engineer who is known as The Hacksmith, has demonstrated his DIY exoskeleton by lifting a 171.5lbs (78kg) breeze block barbell.

His contraption looks like a mechanical backpack with metal arms, which are strapped securely to his own.

Pneumatic cylinders on the arms allow him to lift heavy weights with ease and he can be seen curling the large weights in the video. 

That's no lightweight - guy lifts 170lbs

'I didn't feel like I was lifting 170lbs…but my legs felt it,' he said.

Mr Hobson has documented the creation of the exoskeleton, which he has been working on since May.

Talking about his motivation to create the gadget on his website, he said: 'As You can probably imagine, it's been a life goal of mine to build some kind of exoskeleton - the alien exoskeleton, an Iron Man suit...the list goes on.

'[But] it's just too darn expensive! Until now. A friend got me a bunch of pneumatic cylinders and it's finally within my reach.'

While he has not said how much the exoskeleton has cost to make, it features two arms, a backpack frame, valve bank and a compressor.

His friend and fellow YouTube star, RimstarOrg, explained that when the valve is activated, high pressure is pumped into the top section of the back cylinders and the bottom section of the front cylinders on the backpack.

Lots of people daydream about having superhuman strength – or an Iron Man suit (pictured) they could use to save the world. Incredible suits capable of lifting heavy weights have been developed by universities and the military but the technology is prohibitively expensive for consumers

Armed and ready for action: The contraction looks like a mechanical backpack with metal arms (pictured), which are strapped securely to Mr Hobson's own. They allow him to lift heavy weights. With the addition of a better air compressor and support for his legs and back, the engineer could lift much heavier weights

That pushes one piston down and the other one up. When this happens, the lifting arms pivot and when the back piston is depressed, the arms lift up.

Mr Hobson can lift the 170lb (78kg) weights unaided to waist level, but used the pneumatic exoskeleton to raise the weights higher.

He thinks with a few tweaks, his exoskeleton could lift double the weight.

'If I upgrade my air compressor, I could potentially curl 300lbs (136kg) but I don't think my back and legs could take it,' he said.

'I'm going to have to build the lower half of this exoskeleton – it's just going to get better from here.'