Coming Soon — Cyborg Farmers

palegray.net writes Robots.net covers an article about robotic exoskeletons for Japanese farmers. These exoskeletons would provide increased strength and support for manual labor intensive tasks. More information can also be found at robots-dreams.com. 'The robotic suit relies on ultrasonic motors along with various sensors and wireless networking gear. [...] The mass-produced version of the suit is expected to weigh in at 8 kilograms and cost about 200,000 yen.'"

Comments

Wait a second.

[The_mad_linguist]

I thought the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture wasn't in charge of Gundam.

Re:WTF are "Ultrasonic Motors?"

[Arthur B.]

Apparently not http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_motor

Re:¥200,000 = $1834.55

[moderatorrater]

I find it hard to believe that it would cost less than $2,000 to turn in to RoboCop You're leaving out the cost of weapons.

I hope...

[tgd]

I hope I wasn't really the ONLY one whose first thought was "well that pretty much decides the whole illegal immigrant discussion once the migrant workers get cybernetic exoskeletons"...

I, for one, welcome our cybernetic illegal immigrant overlords.

um... I mean... I, para uno, dan la bienvenida a nuestros overlords inmigrantes ilegales cibernéticos.

(thanks babelfish)

Re:I hope...

[Fx.Dr]

um... I mean... I, para uno, dan la bienvenida a nuestros overlords inmigrantes ilegales cibernéticos. (thanks babelfish)

The last time I heard someone used Babelfish, it was in reference to some manner of diplomatic incident.

Seeing as how Japanese cyborgs are involved, I feel you just opened up a whole can of worms. Good going, man. Good going.

Re:BS

[asuffield]

Also, at $1800 per, your not going to see people investing in these when they can just hire some cheap child labor.

What country do you think Japan is in?

This is not China or India. They do not have "cheap child labour". This is the country with the highest per-capita wages in the world. This is where labour is at its most expensive. This is also the country where children go to school 10 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week, from the age when they can hold a pencil until they go to university. There's no child labour at all, let alone cheap.

Sounds familiar

[bograt]

I watched a movie about this recently. "RoboCrop", I think it was called.

Re:¥200,000 = $1834.55

[Sandbags]

Well, it's not really a robotic suit, it's a robotic "assist" suit. It doesn't do anything by itself, it's just a few servos with some quality sensors attached and calibtrated to the wearers movement. It helps prevent fatigue by helping the farmer balance, stand and squat, and remain bent over for long periods of time.

the software behind it isn't anything radical, and since then motors don't apply force, just resistance, most of the work is done with very little power. (power is needed to turn on and off the motor, but not to actually move limbs, so it;s kind of like assisted breaking, or power steering, but for the body.)

It's a lot more simple than people think to make it out. Many of the componenets are slight upgrades to common hobby gear... the sensors are where the real magic is, allowing the suit to move fluidly with the wearer and sense when to support and when to assist. Other than that, it's not more than a fancy mechanical brace. $2000 USD is completely beievable.

Also, misprint in the article states 8KG. It's 18KG (about 40 lbs).