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Exoskeletons in IEEE Spectrum
Rob the Bold writes "October IEEE Spectrum magazine (print and online) reports on worldwide developments in exoskeleton technology. Applications include mobility for the disabled, increased lifting power for cargo loaders and nurses, and faster running capability. Developments in the US, Europe and Asia are reviewed." From the article: "Today, in Japan and the United States, engineers are finally putting some practical exoskeletons through their paces outside of laboratories. But don't look for these remarkable new systems to bust bricks or spew lightning. The very first commercially available exoskeleton, scheduled to hit the market in Japan next month, is designed to help elderly and disabled people walk, climb stairs, and carry things around. Built by Cyberdyne Inc., in Tsukuba, Japan, this exoskeleton, called HAL-5, will cost about 1.5 million yen (around US $13 800)."
The company's called Cyberdyne and the exoskeleton is called HAL? I think I know where this is going ...
So, so many times have I said "If I only had an exoskeleton, I could ward off these feral Oliphants". I wonder if there will be dealer financing...
T E R M I N A T O R
Cyberdyne Series 101 Terminator Endoskeleton
Height: 1.8 meters
DEX: 4D+2
Blaster 6D, Brawling Parry 5D, Firearms 6D, Grenade 6D,
Melee Combat 6D, Melee Parry 5D
KNO: 3D
Scholar: Human Anatomy 8D, Survival: Wasteland 6D,
Languages 10D, Intimidation 7D,
Scholar: Cyberdyne Systems 6D
MEC: 3D+2
Ground Vehicle Operation 6D
PER: 3D
Investigation 7D, Search 8D
STR: 6D
Brawling 8D, Climbing/Jumping 7D, Lifting 8D, Stamina 8D
TEC: 3D+2
Blaster Repair 6D, Firearms Repair 6D, Demolition 7D,
First Aid 6D, Ground Vehicle Repair 6D, Security, 7D
Move: 11
Equipped with:
Humanoid Construction
Vocabulator
Enhanced Visual Receptors (+2D to any sight-based action)
Adaptive Learning Circuitry
Life Support Circuitry: Power source and/or CPU must be shut
down/destroyed before a terminator will stop hunting
Disadvantages:
Dogs bark at the smell of a terminator.
If this didn't have IEEE all over it, I'd have thought that was a joke? Cyberdyne Inc, HAL?
Let the jokes begin
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Wow, how did that slip through marketing?
Cyberdyne Systems
HAL
...and start putting more money into space exploration. Afterall, what good is an exoskeleton without the giant alien queen to fight with it?
Now this.
That does it. I'm buying lots of big guns and moving to the Mojave Desert."Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Don't worry, this is just HAL-5. They still have 8995 versions to go through before it gets really dangerous.
RMN
~~~
Will it really increase the cost, however? I mean, it costs far more for a nurse to care for an elderly patient. If the patients can care for themselves, then that reduces the number of nurses required. I would be inclined to say that a nurse costs far more than $14000, and you have to keep paying each nurse's salary each year! Devices like these may works for many years, perhaps even with minimal upkeep costs. Thus your taxes may very well decrease because of technology such as this.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Just check out their website: http://www.cyberdyne.jp/ENG/. Looks like an amateur hack...
The photos indicate the all important GLOWING RING JOINTS on the exoskeleton, no doubt the first feature to be implemented. If you look at the corporate info, the company was founded in June of 2004, and has a capital of 10M JPY.. which looks big at first sight, until you consider it's just a little under 90k USD. Looks to me as if they're pulling our leg, especially considering how little real info there is here. I won't even get in to the no doubt intentionally comedic naming of the company and its "product". Also check out this pic: http://www.cyberdyne.jp/Image/sakurai_double.JPG, yeah.. that exoskeleton is definitely necessary to lift a 90 lb. Japanese girl..
Does the liquid metal version come out?
Think of the storage space needed and time to strap the suit on. I want to just pour it over me and start hunting John Con--er carrying heavy loads at work.
yeah, until all the cybernetic octogenerians decide to TAKE OVER THE WORLD
11 was a racehorse
12 was 12
1111 Race
12112
My 91 year old grandmother's being issued a walker was a blow to her pride and quality of life. She's in a home where they keep an eye on you, help you pee and take meds. They try to make sure she uses her walker, but there are times when she is alone in her room at night, probably loaded on bourbon, and she tries to make it to the bathroom without her walker. She's fallen multiple times doing this, the last time breaking her pelvis.
Now if these Japanese could make a device to protect the health of loved ones, especially the uncooperative flavor, that they are more inclined to use because it isn't as big a pain in the ass as her walker and the like, you'd see them export even more goods.
The last Japanese themed article I read on slashdot was about some stupid heat efficient automatic door thing, and like a lot of people, it struck me as vapor that ain't gonna happen. Here this may not be the case because there is potentially strong demand from people like me to pull this through enough R&D to get in finally into the market. I'm not the only one with a 91 year old grandma with a strong appreciation of whiskey. Go Japan.
If a closet is "a small, enclosed storage space in a house or building", then are we talking about exoskeletons in the IEEE eClosets?
--
make install -not war
These devices will end up in warehouses for moving heavy cargo. Sure you can use a forklift, but these will probably cost a fraction of one and be able to pick up ~ 1/4 the weight. That is the space where 1-2 men carry things around, and get bad backs all the time.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
As I've mentioned in previous /. postings, I did work on powered prosthetics back in the mid-late 70's. The two big holdbacks were power and feedback control. They seem to be making progress with the development of nickel-metal hydyide and lithium battery packs. Feedback: kinesthetics (the intuative ability to know where your body parts are), and balance will continue to be challanges. It takes a human being up to several years to be able to walk. Even longer to develop agility for complex tasks such as throwing a ball. Perhaps self-modifying programs capable of "learning", so-called genetic algorythms would be helpfull. Development of robots like Honda's Asimo face similar developmental problems and great progress has been made.
Chaos maximizes locally around me.
Oh, but not for granny to carry her groceries. I want one so I can carry this.
I tend to agree with you on this one. I'm not about to say that an exoskeleton wouldn't be cool, or even handy. It's long been a desire for humans to lift/carry more weight for longer distances, etc.
Anyway, this particular system wouldn't support a person without control over their lower limbs. For one, the weight distribution for the person is all at the waist and upper thighs. If we were to say that the handicapped individual is extremely light at a mere 80lbs, he or she still would be too heavy to hold vertical for extended periods of time via the waist and upper thighs. I don't even want to imagine how torn up the skin would get. Heck, an improperly configured rucksack of just 50lbs on my back for just a couple of hours will give me two deep wounds about 2"x6" and they will be sore for over a week. And they want to hold a person up, supported, without any weight being supported by the obvious candidate: the butt. Of course, that's why wheelchairs are so effective.
As for the other application, such as holding increased weight... well, this one is actually a little more practical, but it's got a bunch more problems--and the same thing keeps cropping up: how do you get all that added weight to be distributed AROUND the body instead of through it via the person's bones and muscles? Truth is, it's really difficult. It's especially difficult when the person goes to lift--the motors, joints, and structure has to be "thinking" ahead of the person and move into the proper load-bearing position without throwing itself and the person off-balance. Impossible? No. Current reality? Doubtful.
If this particular skeleton supports extra weight at all, I would suspect the joints are all similar to my folding latter's joints that can lock into place and become very rigid. Then, just get the weight into a supported position (by lifting it up yourself), and then the skeleton can be locked in to give you rest. Balance is handled by the person. Add some flash for potential venture capitalists, and you're done. Too easy.
And by the way.... just where is/are the battery(ies)? Nevermind, this thing's got perpetual motion installed, I'm sure.
Long, cute, or funny Sigs are just another form of over compensation, used by geeks, nerdz, etc.
You gotta wonder who's the fucking Einstein who decided to equip the elderly with robotic ninja superpowers. When I was working as a hapless waiter at Denny's years ago, I thought I had I bad whenever one of those geezers would start ranting about the "good old days" and "whatever happened to service?" if their bowl of oatmeal wasn't cooked just right or their order was a few minutes late. Now we're going to have to worry about them going on a rampage and destroying the city. Christ, the Japanese are probably going to have to call in Godzilla to pacify the robots instead of vice-versa! You'd think the Japanese of all people would know better than this.
GMD
watch this
There was an article about various sorts of exoskeleton, including actual photohraphs of one with a human being inside it, and it was doing heavy cargo lifting... the article said they were developed for the US Army.
I was only a kid at the time, and soon forgot all about it.
Then I saw Alien 2 or 3 whichever it was, and Ripley gets into this big yellow exoskeleton, and I was instantly zapped back to being a small boy reading pop mechanics and seeing pictures of a human being in a damn near identical construct.***
"Aaaah" I thought, "the special effects guys are my age and read PM too"
I really cannot be any more accurate about the date, but I can recall other articles in the same time period, the flying car, the PM 38 speedboat (which my dad built), which might be enough for a PM buff to trace it.
So really this is not news, or even new, it's 40+ years old and predates the Apollo program.
*** I grew up to be an engineer, like my dad, and now I understand that compared to a cargo lifter of wheels, eg a fork lift, all these exoskeleton designs will be horribly inefficient mechanically and far more expensive to make and maintain, so no conspiracy theory needed to explain why they are hidden away in area 51 and on the sekret moon base
http://slashdot.org/~GuyFawkes/journal
Building the suit with a large number of control points and still able to handle 500-1000 lbs for at least an hour or two, that will the interesting part
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
The though of my octogenarian grandmother (who has been know to hit people with her cane when angered) in possession of one of these exo-skeletons fills me with horror