Slashdot Mirror
Elder-Assist Robotic Suits, From the Real Cyberdyne
Tasha26 writes "No, not the one which will end up building terminator robots. BBC's Click brings news of a Japanese company, Cyberdyne, which is in the process of building different robotic suits to assist the elderly in accomplishing simple body tasks such as walking and lifting. Even though still in R&D, this video (@3m15s) shows a pretty promising future for the elderly."
"Walk-around" actually sounds less advanced than "Hoverround."
They named their company Cyberdyne and later realized their mistake did they? I highly doubt this, clever marketing though. On the other hand I have a coworker who IS actually named John Conner, poor man we covered his office in tin foil while he was on vacation, left him a nice note explaining that we are trying to hide him from satellite surveillance. Did lead to one of the greatest owned moments I have ever seen, our boss from NJ was handing out our new Blackberry Tours, everyone on the IT team got one but John, Jay says "I just thought in the interest of personal safety....these things have GPS tracking you know." He did actually get one of course, but not before we set his ringtone to say "Come with me if you want to live." and play the theme.
As long as they don't start asking if we've got stairs in our houses, I think we're fine.
"No, not the one which will end up building terminator robots."
How can you be so sure? Are you from the future?
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
"Computer, deliver me to checkpoint D. And wake me up when we're there."
Where do you think the organic components of the Terminator come from? Why do you think the Terminator has such a crotchety disposition? It's made from old people!
Combine a century or more of experience and decades of having young people mess up their lawns with power and speed and it spells trouble. Even worse than the Terminator is the next step, purely biological exoskeletons for old people. I mean, what do you think Aliens are other than bio-enhanced old people with exoskeletons and acid for blood?
Making old people weak is nature's way of protecting the young.
Don't mess with mother nature.
(For the humor impaired: :-)
This has been around and in production for quite a while: http://www.rslsteeper.com/orthotics/orthotic-products/argo The website only shows a half body setup, I understand they also do a full body suit.
I shouldn't do this, but here goes: If you don't want to need a Cyberdyne 2000 to help you walk around when you're older, do weight training. It helps the aging retain muscle mass.
I have nothing against advancing robotics, whatsoever.
But, many of the problems with the elderly being physically infirm can be treated with steroids. Society has this bizarre view of steroids of being a horrible drug causing anything from cancer to rage to psychotic episodes. The DEA has it listed as a Schedule III drug, which carries a worse fine for possession than Xanax, Rohypnol, Valium and Halcion. Anabolic steroids are on the same DEA classification as LSD. From a legal standpoint, they view as equal what is essentially a drug that increases the rate at which proteins fold to the most powerful hallucinogen known to man.
Give the elderly steroids, and let their doctors monitor them. Keep going with robotics, but steroids are here now.
If you're curious where your drug of choice lands on the DEA schedule, here's a link:
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html
"Study your math, kids. Key to the universe." -The Archangel Gabriel
Just imagine iif my dad, who turns 77 today, were to receive this kind of contraption as a present. My cranky dad controlling a mech? Run for the hills!
My dad has a master's degree in electrical engineering and likes to modify stuff (electrical and non-) to suit his needs.
Oh, did I mention my dad got a black belt in Shotokan karate back in the '80s? I swear I am not making this up.
Right, I should mention something basic about Dad: he is a collector of militaria and weapons, especially edged weapons, but he has a sizable number of firearms too.
I, for one, would not welcome our heavily armed, flak jacketed, cybernetically enhanced, grumpy old black belt overlord.
Happy birthday, Dad!
No, he won't actually read this, but it seemed appropriate to say.
"It is nice to know that the computer understands the problem. But I would like to understand it too." --Eugene Wigner
Now I can chase those kids off my lawn.
Never shake hands with a man you meet in a fertility clinic.