Resource Integration Gear

**Resource Integration Gear**, or **RIG** for short, is an integrated health management and strength augmentation system that assists users in previously impossible and dangerous environments.

## Overview

RIGs monitor the lifesigns of an individual. Developed from medical monitoring systems designed for elderly patients, it has found common usage among the adult population.

All RIGs share several basic features. A spine-mounted display serves to indicate the user's general state of health as a glowing segmented bar which depletes as the user takes damage. When the user dies, it emits a "flat-line" sound similar to an EKG, which is loud enough to alert others within earshot of the RIG wearer's demise. Holographic projectors mounted on the wrists can create a two-dimensional display in front of the user, to display whatever they might need to see. The size of the display can vary depending upon the data it is accessing. It can also project a colored line to guide the user to a destination, be it a location or a service like a store or workbench. It is capable of two-way audio and visual communication. RIG users can be individually tracked if need-be, even if dead. Finally, RIGs can be used as a form of biometric lock, only allowing specific RIG users access to designated areas, though such scanners fail to take into account whether the user is living or dead. RIGs can be upgraded at a nano-circuit repair Upgrade Bench using Power Nodes. Depending on the RIG, Nodes can be used to upgrade air supply, resilience to damage, or enhance the strength of Kinesis.

RIGs vary greatly depending on the user's occupation and status. Civilian RIGs are typically little more than the spinal display and wrist projectors attached to basic clothing. Engineers and other service personnel wear similar garb, but often possess Kinesis and Stasis modules to aid in their profession, the latter with the requisite monitor mounted to the right of the spinal display. For more dangerous work, RIGs are installed in full-body suits. These suits, in addition to the RIG's basic functions, have features such as an internal oxygen supply for work in a vacuum, gravity boots, and thrusters for zero-gravity movement, and armor to protect against damage from various sources.

RIGs appear to be ubiquitous throughout society. Very few people are shown not to possess them, which suggests that most professions require some form of RIG to be used. Various RIG-equipped suits can be purchased from stores, provided the user has clearance and the proper blueprints. More advanced suits offer benefits like increased storage space, damage resistance, and "bonuses" to weapons, stasis, kinesis, or store purchases.

## Features

### Health Management

The most distinctive feature of the RIG is its health management system, which actively displays the wearer's health in real time via a segmented colored bar that runs along the spine of the wearer, allowing for interface into the wearer's nervous system, and therefore the ability to detect the wearer's health status. These bars will drain and refill depending on the user's health. If a RIG wearer dies, the RIG will give off a flatline sound, identical to an alert cardiograph. The bar changes color depending on the user's overall health; aqua-blue for above 75%, green for above 50%, yellow for below 50%, and red for below 25%. It will blink when the user is near death.

It is unknown what it bases the wearer's health on, be it a rough estimate of damaged body parts or the functionality of internal organs. It is known that if the user of the RIG is harmed, the RIG automatically applies any carried health packs to the damaged area. The RIG could also potentially show signs of bacterial or viral-based illness.

### Holographic Displays

Utilizing the Holotech Operating System, a RIG has the ability to project a holographic display, which is projected a few feet (about a meter) in front of the RIG wearer. The display also moves with the user if the user walks around at all while it is projected. These displays are used for various features. The main use of the display is for RIG users to communicate with one another through live video chat, or to send live audio messages to one another. The RIG also allows its user to store text logs and the like within the RIG's built-in memory, which are displayed in widescreen projections to make reading easier.

### Navigation System

This feature projects a colored line on the environment that guides the user to objectives, save points, Benches, and Stores. In *Dead Space*, this system included a 3D map and the line guided users to objectives. In *Dead Space 3*, Suit Kiosks replaced the Stores for navigation, and guidance to a Save station was replaced with an autosave feature.