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HAL Exoskeleton Assisted Mountain Climbing
OzPeter writes "The Age is reporting that two experienced mountain climbers will wear Japanese HAL exoskeletons to assist in carrying a quadriplegic and a muscular dystrophy sufferer to the summit of a Swiss mountain. Although they will be starting only 280 meters below the summit, it will still be an impressive feat." Slashdot covered the HAL exoskeleton late last year.
Let's hope that the HAL suits don't consider the quadriplegic a threat to the mission. Might see the suit eject the body in an effort to achieve success and reach the top.
My work here is dung.
I hope they remember to bring a spare AE-35 unit.
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
This seems like a great test and demonstration of this kind of technology in a relatively extreme environment. I know several people on SlashDot have argued that the machinery wouldn't be able to handle the kinds of conditions you might confront when needing to rescue someone or in a war. This is exactly the kind of demonstration they need to do to push this kind of project forward.
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welcome our HAL exoskeleton encased overlords.
"Sankai's venture company Cyberdyne"....
let me get this straight. A robot called "HAL" developed by Cyberdyne?
For pities sake: stop this evil genius now! Before we have to go back in time and do it!
'This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it' - Eeyore
"Although they will be starting only 280 meters below the summit"
Might as well find the nearest hill where they live and save all the expense.
The HAL mission was deemed a success for the simple fact that the mountainclimbers were wearing full face masks all the way up and back.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I think I would be extremely nervous riding on the back of someone who was wearing a battery powered machine in freezing cold temperatures...
"Uhh, hold on here, my HAL is frozen solid."
Or...
"Uh oh, my HAL is out of juice... I guess you're rolling back down."
Why are they requiring a HAL Exoskeleton to make the climb? My father is an experienced mountain climber, and I know that one could very easily scale 280 meters in less than an hour; carrying a passenger will obviously complicate things quite a bit, but is additional (very expensive, I might add) technology truly necessary? According to the article, "Using HAL, someone who could normally lift 100 kilograms at a leg press machine could lift 180 kilograms"--not an amazing improvement.
Nonetheless, the climber is pursuing an honorable goal. He states, "I am trying create new possibilities for the disabled as well as realise a dream. My hope is that through this I can give courage and hope to all disabled people in difficult circumstances."
http://www.2001halslegacy.com/
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." -Jesus Christ The Lord's Prayer
I'm afraid I can't do that, rilister.
It's Robocop in the making...
Man, those Japanese are way behind. Stephen Hawking already did this back in 1997!
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
I, for one, welcome our new quadriplegic hauling, exo-skeleton clad overlords!
And so the murder of the impossible continues.
if those HAL suits were any good, the quadroplegic and muscular distrophic patient would be walking themselves up the mountain
My name is Wootzor von Leetenhaxor
the HAL 9000!
What?
I don't want to be dragged up a mountain by a guy wearing a body iPod.
HAL, Cyberdyne ... hmmm Let hopes that the quadriplegic is NOT a T1. I am stockpiling for by the way.
How long before we have an HEV suit ;)
I will forever be a student.
From the FAQ:
Q. Can we go to the bathroom or take a bath with HAL ?
A. We are researching it now.
For the love of god, please hurry up!
...I'm afraid I can't let you climb that mountain.
Did anyone catch the "according to the web page of Sankai's venture company Cyberdyne"
Here comes the T-1000
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
No, Pamela Anderson is an overhyped wench... this would be an overhyped winch!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I'm sorry Dave, but I can't allow you to come down from this mountain.
Too little, too late: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://toyc hest.diamondcomics.com/toys/02_03/edward-scissorha nds.jpg&imgrefurl=http://toychest.diamondcomics.co m/toys/02_03/31_ed_scissorhands_11inch.htm&h=296&w =200&sz=11&tbnid=lwfjCVmTQCkJ:&tbnh=111&tbnw=75&pr ev=/images%3Fq%3Dedward%2Bscissorhands%26hl%3Den%2 6lr%3D&start=3&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=2
Friends don't let friends line-dance.
.. but it'd be better if the exoskeleton was directly worn/used by the quadrapelegic and MS sufferer.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
"I have a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple. And we have talent."
--James Watt, Secrety of the Interior under Reagan, describing his staff to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on September 21, 1983; this comment led directly to his forced resignation.
I'm sorry, but "Sealab 2021" is quite far from that rarified echelon of cultural landmarks from which quotes can be considered obligatory. While the show is apparently hilarious to anyone who never went to junior high, it never reaches any significant level of relevance.
... I was looking around randomly on wikipedia.org earlier and came across the HAL thing...
And now on slashdot too?
"It's the freakin' government man!"
Yes a great one, 31 actually, the Captain was Harry's for about half of the episodes and is still missed.
... Standards and Practices ! ... Eeek
"Let's nuke this train wreck from Deep Diver"
"Then I want two vaginas"
"Plus I don't want it touching my back"
Golly
PenGun
Do What Now ???
Bite my shiny metal ass!
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Call me when I can have the one from Aliens.
Of course the suit isn't necessary, the entire point of the operation is to demonstrate the suit's capabilities.
And no you don't actually need the mountain to show what the suit can do, but it looks a lot better than just lifting a bunch of weights in a laboratory.
Also, can we please stop with all of the HAL jokes. I think they got old about 5 minutes after this story was posted.
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
Using HAL, someone who could normally lift 100 kilograms at a leg press machine could lift 180 kilograms, Cyberdyne said.
Is it just me, or does it sound like a bad idea to start messing with technology produced by the Cyberdyne Corporation...? Anyone up for a little time travel?
I appreciate your political rant. Really.
...for the quadriplegic's sake, I'll be more interested in seeing the quadriplegic wear the suit and climb the mountain.
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
First thing that came to my mind was: HAL = Hardware Abstraction Layer.
And I thought, for the love of God let it not be the windoze HAL they're using to... well, to do anything.
It is interesting that thousands, possibly tens of thousands of people all thought the exact same thing as they read this article summary.
Join Tor today!
I note that there is no mention of getting the cripples DOWN from the mountain top...
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PGP Key ID 0xCB8FF658
The suit shown in TFA looks strikingly reminiscent of what Nixon wore in one of the Futureama episodes!
Wait a minute... Cyberdyne? WTF? Remember these guys?
1984-1991 Cyberdyne Systems Corporation is formed to study the uncovered remains of the Terminator and further cybernetic and artificial intelligence research. Miles Dyson serves as the chief inventor responsible for a revolutionary new CPU. Miles Dyson helps see to the destruction of his work after persuasion from Sarah Connor. John is attacked by a new Terminator model the T-1000 which can mimic anything it physically samples. His protector, a reprogrammed T-800 is destroyed after the T-1000 dies a fiery death.
RUN!!!!
The glass is half-full. With poison. And there are cracks in the glass. The dirty, dirty glass.
Kevlar isn't kevlar, you sad, stupid fuck. Kevlar isn't even relevant to rifle rounds, or most fragmentation explosives.
Military grade body armor uses ceramic plates, and the armor our troops first deployed with had none--it was what is considered "soft" body armor--kevlar. It barely stops a 9mm, and it serves as no protection against rifle rounds, or high velocity shrapnel--they might protect against hand grenade shrapnel at medium distance, but not against anything larger. Useless.
Our troops are currently deployed with Interceptor OTV vests. They're stiff, heavy, and they have an ceramic insert that is designed to protect the heart and lung area. You can see it here You see that little plate? It's so goddamned fragile, that if you so much as drop it, it becomes useless. If you duck for cover, there's a good chance that you'll break that plate, and whatever armor you had is now useless for anything stronger than a 9mm. That plate is designed to break apart, and absorb energy from a round. It's good for precisely ONE shot. Naturally, that plate is totally inflexible.
There are better armors on the civilian market. Take a look at Dragon Skin Armor It's made entirely of round titanium composite ceramic plates, intelocked, front, back, and side. They'll take dozens of 7.62 rounds, hundreds of 9mm rounds, more shrapnel than you can throw at it, they're just a tad heavier than Inteceptor armor, but they're very flexible, and they breathe like nothing else. It is a better system. It's a safer system. And now our troops can't use it, even if their families shipped them out at considerable expense.
I'm ex-military, and ex-republican (I'm a real conservative, not a pansy-ass neo-con like the shitheads that now occupy the Republican ranks), I was an officer in Desert Storm, and I can say, unafraid of criticism, that our troops don't have the best protection available for the cost we pay. It's a fact. There's better stuff out there, but the Pentagon is shitting their pants because it's a little more expensive. But to think that they won't allow our soldiers to use the better stuff, even if they afford it on their own... That's just fucking stupid!
To think that good men are dying while stupid-ass pieces of shit like yourself play the political card makes me want to explode something. You know what? You can sit on your blind as fuck ignorance and spin, motherfucker.
if the climbers get into bitching at each other, could this escalate into a scenario where concealed weaponry, like the uranio-lazer, extend from hidden panels for deathmatch purposes? add a rocketpack to eliminate reliance on the partner/enemy for a belay and, bingo, you got a hot climbing accessory.
Knight Sabers....ACTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2040 may be earlier than we think
A low altitude hill climb would also be far easier to clean up after, film etc, but I guess does not have the same wow factor. Most high altitude missions leave behind a huge mess. I have visions of the HAL mission leaving a trail of spent AA batteries.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
They're giving this quadriplegic too much credit. To say he's going to "scale the heights" is a little off the mark. The guy in the HAL is doing all the scaling.
But anyway I'm glad the piggyback rider will get a chance to see something he wouldn't otherwise be able to see. Unless someone drove him up. Or he took a helicopter. Or maybe a tram.
I am the inventor of the hilarious refrigerator alarm.
...parent's comment kinda like reminds me of this
Where people deemed their protection and strength more important than mobility. Maybe it really is.
Or maybe just those suits brought a lot of money for the guys developing them.
Now, that could augment the MILES or ALICE packs for soliders ummm soldiers humping huge 150 lb packs on their bodies.
New wince-inducing DOD-targeted adverts from drug-OD'd marketing contractors:
"Enemy closing ing? Gotta take a shit on the run? Adjust your servos and just squat a bit. Might need a mirror and an extender accessory, though... But, we have that extension in beta...It's called "MILES Behind, and ALICE Hind Loader"
Gives a new take on the German word that sounds like "Hingerlader"... Just twist this to "Hinge-Loader" (Hey, no cultural swipes here... I've got German, Spanish, French and 3 other bloodlines in me...)
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
You could sit in a tank all day for what good it would do you. Why not have the fam send you a big steel box to sit in?
The future will be light, hard composites. As the bullet strikes it, it pivots to a higher relative angle as the bullet trajectory. Much more efficient than stopping a bullet dead. Even this dragon skin is likely to put disabling bruises on your body.
That is, if it even works like you say. Who's spinning this?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns -ap-army-body-armor,1,6953058.story?coll=chi-news- hed
If the army just wanted you to go and die, they would have banned personal body armor in 2003.
I don't buy that a military guy could be as senseless as you. Why doesn't the army equip all soldiers with the latest high-tech weaponry that nobody knows how to use? Why don't you go out and buy the newest, most expensive car, it'll save your life in a car accident you know, at least that's what they tell you when you buy it. Maybe you should wear a football helmet when you go outside, even if it obstructs your vision.
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,usa3_0 42104.00.html
10 years ago all you could get was kevlar. You get all fired up over nothing, you fucking fool.
A powered exo-sketeton? It must use negative feedback loops to sense the operators movements, and then amplify them. This was described in Robert A. Heinlien's "Starship Troopers" back in the 1950's. A powered exo-skeleton was mentioned in Arthur C. Clake's "Hammer Of God" in the 1990's, the unit being an experimental design to allow natives of low gravity worlds to visit Earth. This has been science fiction until now, and there is incredble promise in this techmology. However, it must not be confused with control by nueral induction, as described in Martin Caiden's "Cyborg". That would be the only way that a paralyzed person could control an exo-skeleton, as they are not able to move their limbs. This technology also impacts telepresence, in that an operator wearing a exo-skeleton could perform physical labor at a remote sight, such as from a base on the Moon to a site in vacum. This would avoid the dangers of working in a spacesuit when suit integrity could be easily lost, as well as allowing the worker greater comfort than would be found in wearing a space suit for hours on end.