Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Power Armor For the Elderly

Posted by Zonk on from the super-monkey-rocket-old-lady-force-go dept.

aicrules writes "The question of how to care for the growing number of people in the upper age bracket has a new answer - assistive power armor for the elderly." From the article: "The sleek, high-tech get-up looks like a white suit of armor. It straps onto a person's arms, legs and back and is equipped with a computer, motors and sensors that detect electric nerve signals transmitted from the brain when a person tries to move his limbs. When the sensors detect the nerve signals, the computer starts up the relevant motors to assist the person's motions. Sankai says the suit, dubbed 'Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) 5,' can let a person who can barely do an 176-pound leg press handle 397 pounds."

23 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Please, put down your weapon by TPIRman · · Score: 4, Funny

    In Korea, only old people are Robocop.

    1. Re:Please, put down your weapon by N3Roaster · · Score: 4, Funny

      And to think, they named it after a computer that went insane.

      --
      Remember RFC 873!
    2. Re:Please, put down your weapon by dadioflex · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's Japan. A bit sad really - the message I got is that we're never going to retire from the daily grind of paid employment, we're just going to get strapped into increasingly more powerful waldos until our bodies finally give up and they've no choice but to spoon our brain straight into some robot's noggin.

    3. Re:Please, put down your weapon by scupper · · Score: 2, Funny

      Overheard at the Triskelion Cafe , year 5406...

      Bidder 1: 20,000 Quatloos that the Sun won't explode

      Bidder 2: I'll match and raise you 10K Quatloos that he's one of those freaks that got his brains spooned into a Macintosh aquarium.

  2. Oh noes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now we have to be wary of an army of mecha-geriatrics!

  3. What has happened to Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The sleek, high-tech get-up looks like a white suit of armor.

    For Christ's sake, it looks like the starting point for a storm trooper costume. What's this "white suit of armor" nonsense?

  4. This is so cool by pintpusher · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can't wait til I'm Elderly!

    --
    man, I feel like mold.
  5. Is anyone else thinking super soldiers? by synthex · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's a great concept, but can anyone see anything other than cost per suit preventing this being used as an aid for modern soldiers? With modification, obviously. Then they just need to teach the soldiers bad one liners ('Time to take out ze trash') and we have a super soldier/Arnold hybrid!

    1. Re:Is anyone else thinking super soldiers? by I_Human · · Score: 3, Funny

      I may just be an average US grunt but I can drive the HMMWV and get my laundry done, while spelling "they're" correctly.

      --
      -JP
    2. Re:Is anyone else thinking super soldiers? by iamatlas · · Score: 2, Funny
      Don't think for a moment that military applications of super-strength will mean Superman-style punching villains in the face. It won't. Ever.

      You, Sir, are wrong, and have obviously never played the docu-game Splinter Cell.

  6. SOmeone has to say it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I, for one, welcome our power-armoured, elderly, overlords.

  7. Sex performance by John5788 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes it helps elderly with strength, so does it help the older men with sex incase viagra doesn't get it up?

    1. Re:Sex performance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Already invented.

      Called the strap-on dildo.

      Never goes soft.
      Can be had with built in vibrator and other options.

      Not sure how a man would get pleasure while wearing a strap on, but it'll handle the woman's needs quite nicely, just ask any lesbian. ;-)

  8. I for one... by TJ_Phazerhacki · · Score: 2, Funny
    Welcome our new geriatric, robotic overlords...

    Wait... I've heard that one before.. where was it....

    OH YEAH, ON /, a few weeks ago. About the same story.

    DUPE!

    At what point is an artcle restating a previous article's content not a dupe? How far must it be removed to still be considered news?

    --
    Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
  9. Sounds good... by Karl+Cocknozzle · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...When can I get my V3 Legs?

    --
    Who did what now?
  10. I don't even know why the scientists make them! by hamfactorial · · Score: 2, Funny

    WARNING: Persons denying the existence of robots may be robots themselves.

    --
    Did you know subscribers can see articles in the future? Holy shit!
  11. All you need... by mendaliv · · Score: 3, Funny

    All you'll need to do to get this really popular in the states is to start showing Aliens over and over, and have this company's commercial mixed in.

    "Get away from her you BITCH!"

  12. HAL-5 ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    So that's like 8995 more HALs before this is interesting.

  13. Just in time.... by Hamster+Lover · · Score: 5, Funny

    for Schwarzenegger's next movie!

    They could combine the Terminator/RoboCop story line:

    Prime Directives:

    1. Get off my lawn!
    2. Protect the elderly.
    3. Uphold Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security.

  14. Grandpa 5 by cyrix · · Score: 2, Funny

    Couldn't you see it coming after Johnny five? Asian man: What are you doing Grandpa 5? GP5: I went out galavanting with some young whipper snappers!! It was great, I felt alive again. Los Locos kick your ass, los locos kick your face, los locos kick your balls into outer space!!! Sing it with you yeh young whipper snapper..

  15. Power Amor! by HermanAB · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, Power Amor - inevitable once Viagra fails to work...

    --
    Oh well, what the hell...
  16. HAL? by ndogg · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sorry Dave. You can't move that way. No, I'm serious Dave, your arthritis is getting worse, and you haven't taken your arthritis medicine yet today.

    --
    // file: mice.h
    #include "frickin_lasers.h"
  17. Isaac Asimov's new book... by talaphid · · Score: 3, Funny

    I, Grandpa

    The gripping anthology of questions posed in story format regarding the nature of octogenerianism in the face of the mechanical man: what does it truly mean to be Abraham Simpson? Similar to the Turing Problem, if you construct a black box where one inserts apple and receieve mush, at what point can one fool a double blind surveyor as to which is the machine-octogenarian and which is the Real McCoy.