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Coming Soon — Cyborg Farmers

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the all-your-veggies-are-belong-to-us dept.

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.'"

5 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Wait a second. by The_mad_linguist · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  2. Re:WTF are "Ultrasonic Motors?" by Arthur+B. · · Score: 5, Informative

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

    --
    \u262D = \u5350
  3. I hope... by tgd · · Score: 5, Funny

    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)

  4. Re:BS by asuffield · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.
  5. Sounds familiar by bograt · · Score: 5, Funny

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