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Watch That Tiny $74 1.5GHz Android-Powered Thumb-Puter In Action newVideoPlayer("exoskeleton_gizmodo.flv", 475, 376);We have had our eyes on Sarcos for quite a while, as they are the wonder kids that have been promising us super powered exoskeletons. Well, true to their word, they have just released a video of a prototype exoskeleton in action; the result is simply amazing. The device will primarily be made available for military use, allowing soldiers to breakthrough conventional barriers of human endurance.
The Kanagawa Institute of Technology has developed a robotic suit that will aid in the care of elderly individuals who need physical support. The suit, showcased at a trade show in Japan this week, is intended to help personal caregivers lift those they look after, whilst reducing the strain on themselves. The unit takes around 10 minutes to equip properly, is very large and weighs in at 66 pounds. The suit enables potential superheroes to lift a 100Kg mass as if it were 50Kg. For those of you who are not strong at mathematics, that is a 50% decrease in the effective mass!
Although exoskeletons are nothing new &mdash remember the Bleex? &mdash the Biomechatronics Group from MIT’s Media Lab has come up with a smaller, more discrete number. Although it can only carry 80 pounds (compared to the Bleex’s upper limit of 220 pounds), associate professor Hugh Herr hopes that in the future, exoskeletons will be another way of getting around. “Our dream is that 20 years from now, people won’t go to bike racks, they’ll go to leg racks” he says.
Matsushita Electric, makers of everything exoskeleton, recently annoucned their new Power Pedal robot legs. Designed for the elderly and those needing assistance, the user sits in a bicycle seat and walks somewhat normally—except with 7 times their normal leg strength. (Translation: we can all get 7 times fatter before being restricted to our beds, again).
The unit’s mobility is respectable, allowing 6 directions of movement while remaining functional on uneven terrain. Today, a Power Pedal will run you $127,000. But by 2015, Matsushita hopes to bring the price down to a nominal $30,000.
Hmmm…car or robolegs, robolegs or car? Oh the decisions that the future will burden us with! – Mark Wilson
Those crazy cats at Tokyo’s University of Science have come up with a muscle suit. No, I’m not quite sure what it’s for either. Is it to wear under a suit to give you the illusion of being buff and studly? Or is it to develop your muscles? Nope, apparently it’s to help you lift things (although if the only objects you’re going to lift while wearing it is a set of dumbells, then you might as well ditch the suit and concentrate on the weights, dumbass). The suit only weighs 3 kilos, but you’ll need to carry around an air compressor and regulator with you. – Ad Dugdale
Muscle Suits [Danny Choo via Ubergizmo]
Do you have a refrigerator you need to move? An uncooperative roommate who won’t get off the couch and get a job? A need to impress the guys down at the gym with your amazing lifting skills, no matter what? Well, good news, wussbag.
Starting next year in Japan, you’ll be able to lease an exoskeleton (the HAL-5, to be precise) for about $590 a month. Originally designed to help the elderly and infirm walk around when they’re too weak to do so themselves, it also works great for getting respect when formerly you got none, and, I assume, doing a totally badass version of the robot on the dance floor. –Adam Frucci
Japan Times [via Medgadget]
