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Robotic Legs Instead of Wheelchairs
smooth wombat writes "Atsuo Takanishi, an engineering professor at Tokyo's Waseda University, has demonstrated a pair of robotic legs that may one day eliminate the need for wheelchairs.
At the demonstration in Tokyo, one of Takanishi's students rode the robot -- which bears some resemblance to the mechanical "Wrong Trousers" of Wallace and Gromit fame -- up and down a staircase and along a pebbly path outdoors.
A picture of the demonstration may be found here " Still waiting for my Gundam but that's a good start.
...and they've gone wrong!
Jory
Now if this eliminates old guys on those damn Rascals, I'm all for the metal pants even if they are up to their armpits
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country did to you
...So, these things come out, and someone programs a macro that gets them out of bed, into the trousers, walks to the bureau and stands for fifteen minutes, then walks out of the house, down the stairs, and to work. Unfortunately, the owner has recently become deceased, and the trousers, not programmed to account for little things like that still executes its normal routine...
I don't know which would be creepier, it doing that with the corpse, or it leaving the house empty...
And with that I'm reminded of a short story about an automated house...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
/Feathers McGraw rubs his flippers together evilly
do not take on a lodger, especially one that looks like a penguin in chicken costume!
sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
You see the plan is to market it to people who have all ready broken their neck. They really won't care if they break it a second time because well what are they going to complain about. They are all ready a parapalegic.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
Pfft, Stephen Hawking has had this beat for years.
Blaze a trail to the New World
And here I am using my legs like a sucker!
I have a "Zero Policy" tolerance.
*/
If they make it so it can ride a Segway it will be able to go faster.
Great. Eventually handicapped people will be able to get bionic legs. They will run faster, never tire out and still qualify for closer parking.