Robot Body Suit To Be Marketed In Japan

destinyland writes "A Japanese company is preparing limited mass production of a cybernetic bodysuit which dramatically increases user strength up to ten times. The "Hybrid Assistive Limb" suit synchronizes movements of a mechanical exoskeleton to biological nerve signals detected by biopads on the body. (Originally envisioned for people with disabilities, the suit also has industrial applications, and the company is planning annual production of 400 units at $4,200 apiece.) Its battery life is five hours, according to the company's web site, which promises they're also opening an EU branch to begin sales outside of Japan."

Comments

"limited mass production"

[somersault]

Seems a bit of an oxymoron.

And I want one. With lascannons.

Velcro?

[Hadlock]

Increase your strength by 1000% ! Attaches to your body with... velcro?
 
Still waiting for the "in use" videos to pop up on youtube. I'd love to see a driver unload a freight truck wearing one of these, instead of a forklift.

Re:Velcro?

[Neil Sausage]

And in a terrific coincidence with one of today's other articles, the audio's been disabled because it hasn't been authorized by Warner Music Group. The word egregious comes to mind, and that's putting it nicely.

Strength != carrying capacity or lifting power

[Opportunist]

Before someone goes and dreams of a Steve Austin experience: You can't carry more. You can't lift a car, unless that "wearable robot" also comes with an exoskelet that can carry that weight.

Lifting power is not only muscle power. It is also required that you are able to endure the stress that additional weight puts on your system.

Re:Strength != carrying capacity or lifting power

[Enleth]

Actually, it is, to some extent.

Human skeleton can support much more weight than the muscles could ever lift. After all, the athletes with several times more muscle than a normal person can lift several times more than a normal person could, but their skeletons aren't several times more durable. Exercise makes them a bit stronger, due to good blood supply rich with macroelements, but the same could be achieved with just a good diet and some normal daily exercise, not necessairly athlete's training sessions.

So it will be possible to use this for some weight lifting - I guess 100kg would be easy, there was a video of a guy in a prototype of this device carrying 100kg of rice around the lab. 200kg should be manageable, maybe 300kg could be the limit for most people, as that's what some athletes can still manage safely for a while. Well, ask a doctor specialising in skeletal aliments for some hard facts, I think they'd be quite interested in figuring this out.

Re:Strength != carrying capacity or lifting power

[Rob the Bold]

If the weight capacity isn't signifigantly more than the capacity of the human body, then what would be the point, aside from an interesting halloween costume?

Lots of people have lifting capacity less than an average human body due to disease, injury or age. These people might like to have jobs or pick up grandchildren.

I hope I'm not the only one

[DreamsAreOkToo]

I hope I'm not the only one who saw this and thought, oh cool! Only $4,200? What a steal, I'm gunna get one!

Too bad reality set in :(

American Renaissance News

[$RANDOMLUSER]

And why exactly are we throwing millions of page views at these racist fucks???

Re:American Renaissance News

[caffeinemessiah]

And why exactly are we throwing millions of page views at these racist fucks???

Sigh...the dangers of news aggregation, which is probably how the submitter stumbled upon this piece of bigoted tripe. Somewhere, a thousand page ranking algorithms just went mad seeing these two ostensibly different areas of the Net link to each other.

Can we please be careful not to link this sort of website to slashdot? Somebody please think of the page ranking algorithms!! For those who don't want to click through, this is a summary from the site in the second link of the story (amren.com).

* The Dangers of Diversity, Part II, Editor Jared Taylor continues a multi-part examination of the effects of diversity by taking a look at just what happens when races mix. This segment provides additional examples of the violence and conflict that ensues when different racial groups are forced to mingle in public schools, and also in prisons.
* In Three Race Murders in Seattle, journalist Nicholas Stix reports on the murders of three white men, Edward Scott McMichael, James Paroline, and Kristopher Klime, by blacks. Mr. Stix shows how the media (and government) consistently downplayed the racial angle in these cases.
* In A Voice For Our People, Peter Bradley reviews Frank Borzellieri's new book Lynched: A Conservative's Life on a New York City School Board, which documents the author's one-man crusade to keep Western literature and values alive in increasingly "multicultural" New York City. Mr. Bradley holds him up as example of what a difference one determined man can make in his community.
* Plus, paying the price for insulting Obama supporters, the GOP takes its message to "hip hop settings," Attorney General Holder on the "nation of cowards," the US military becoming another foreign legion, another monkey cartoon controversy, and more!

sizes?

[martas]

This can't possibly be one size fits all. I wonder if they have to make sizes for different combinations of arm, leg, and back length?

Is this viral marketing

[Sebilrazen]

for the new Terminator flick?