Power Suit Promises Super-Human Strength

anthemaniac writes "LiveScience is reporting out of NextFest on a Japanese-built power suit that amplifies the strength of its wearer. The onboard computer is hooked up to sensors that monitor natural movements, then it inflates cuffs to boost lifting power. The Power Assist Suit could be used by hospital workers to move heavy patients, the researchers say."

Comments

Re:Knock knock. Who's there? U.S. Military

[NinjaFarmer]

Actually 30 minutes for a supported combat air drop could be pretty useful. 30 minutes of human mobility tank could be used to sieze a drop zone or helecoptor landing site. After that you lose the strength and mobility on the suit, but you still have the heavy weapons and special forces soldiers in those suites on site. Getting the suites OUT may be a problem, and the entrance is anything but subtle, but if you are going for real "shock-and-awe" type of assault a powered suit like that would be pretty good.

Re:Dull

[Mr. Slippery]

Moving heavy patients? Was someone having a contest to see who could come up with the most boring use of super-human strength?

It may sound boring to you. Sounds like a really good idea to me...my mother, formerly a nurse, suffered a career-ending neck injury when she had to move a patient by herself in an understaffed nursing home. (The patient suffered from senile dementia, became combative, and she fell with the patient on top.)

After fifteen years, two surgeries, and various physical therapies, she still has significant pain and disability.

Sure, I want to trade in my Subaru for a mecha as much as any geek. But anything that prevents other nurses - the people who have the most impact on keeping you alive when you're hospitalized - from suffering a similar fate, sounds like a damn good idea to me.

'Elbow cuffs'

[caitsith01]

If this thing works buy supplying extra force at the joints, as it appears, then doesn't it carry a serious risk of injuring the extremities? For example, the suit might give you enough power via your elbows to lift something very heavy, but all that power is also being transferred through your wrists and fingers, which as far as I can see are unsupported and unaugmented. The amount of stress it could potentially put on those joints is a little worrying.

I would think a system that covers the entire limb in questions would be far safer...

Re:'Elbow cuffs'

[asuffield]

This exact point was raised by Masamune Shirow, many years ago (in Ghost in the Shell, I believe). A fully cyborg arm, attached to a test stand, could easily lift a one ton weight - but attached to a human body, attempting to do the same would simply rip the arm out of its shoulder socket. The point was that only total-conversion cyborgs, or near-total-conversion, would gain any significant boosts in ability to beyond the level that could be accomplished by a normal human - limb replacement is good enough in the case of injury, but wouldn't let you do very much that you weren't already able to do.

Presumably a full-coverage powered suit would have a similar effect, compared to limited augmentation of a few joints or limbs. Of course, there is the additional problem that human joints aren't designed to move very fast for a sustained period of time, and driving them at high speed with external actuators may cause injury.

Re:Power suit

[Mr. Slippery]

Read Starship Troopers and ask which version the guys at DARPA will fund.

This is from Japan. Their militaristic ambitions are still low (though perhaps on the rebound), while they have an aging popultion.

Re:Starship Troopers anyone?

[idonthack]

Combine this with the recently renewed efforts by the marines to develop a system to deploy soldiers from space, and we're pretty much there.

Re:Knock knock. Who's there? U.S. Military

[briancnorton]

30 minutes is an eternity in modern battle. Most firefights last a few seconds.

Re:What's the price tag?

[rabiddeity]

Problem is, Japanese society is highly xenophobic. I'm burning karma here, but this is from someone who has lived here for several years. They wouldn't let foreign workers into the country to do simple labor, for fear that they'd overstay their visas and cause crime and not learn to speak Japanese. Say what you will, but a racially/socially/economically homogeneous population has done loads to keep Japan's crime rates comfortably low, and they like it that way.

So from that perspective, robotic assists seem like the way to go. Sick, but true.

Re:The difference between Japan and the US

[l0cust]

And I find this kind of generalisations more than a bit tiring:

Ooh Japan builds super-strong robots to help the hospital nurses => cute japs !!111

Some (supposedly) americans thought about military use as soon as they heard about it => WTF!!!11 sick-death mongering-carnage loving-americans !! You guys are soooo brainwashed !

Just relax. If something stimulates the imagination then it is bound to be talked about. I am sure this power suit has its origin in some kid's dream who wanted to have super strength to beat up all the bullies or simply to be a superhero. Not every idea which has its origin in the quest for power is without possibilitis of constructive use. Countless people have been inspired by sci-fi books and movies which depicted wars/fights/gadgets used for general fighting and violence but a lot of them ended up creating something which helps the weakest sections of humanity to this very day.

[for the hyper sensitive]No I have no particular feeling for or against Japanese,Korean, Mongolians, Americans or humans in general.

Re:SNL

[eck011219]

Thanks for the link. I'm assuming it doesn't amplify strength enough to worry about breaking your wrists beyond the metal sleeve - I wonder, though. Anything that amplifies strength runs the risk of exceeding the limitations of the actual body underneath, you know?