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Italian Researchers Demonstrate 'Powerloader' Suit
Sockatume writes "Researchers in Italy have demonstrated a powered exoskeleton that can lift 50kg with each hand, as demonstrated in a video with the BBC. The 'body extender' from the Perceptual Robotics Laboratory of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa has been developed for applications like disaster relief, and is just one of many strength-augmenting systems being developed for use in rescue, military, and medical applications. Neither the researchers nor the BBC make the comparison to the Powerloader in the movie Aliens — but come on, look at it."
Soon every construction site will have several of these. Imagine how this will change the building construction industry!
Next we will see 20 foot high version.
what? a suit like that and only able to lift 50Kg per hand? Wonder when we'll actually see a real powerlifter like the one in Aliens, it shouldn't be hard to do a real one..
So, how long until Iron Man, now?
Nice, so now USA and Japan have another competitor in the race. :)
Ok, it's not much of a race, but I won't be satisfied until I can get my own powered exosuit for grins & giggles. And mounting armor and 'weapons' on to take to a con with. I doubt it would win in a contest, there are some unbelievable cosplayers out there, but it sure would be fun. That and pranking people by moving their cars around in the parking lot.
If the onboard electronic is rugged for arsh environments, adding some lead plates may be an idea to approach some areas in Fukushima plant.
So it has 10 times the moving parts of a regular loader, but can lift less than 10% of the weight?
I know these things look cool in the cartoons, but there's a reason we don't build construction equipment this way. Things like these will never be as practical as wheeled and tracked vehicles.
...would it be able to lift them?
no one is writing about it and we have to read it on bbc news. sad
What exactly would it do? It needs a power generator, which makes it a sizeable package to deploy. And what then could it do? Lift boxes? Forklifts do it faster and with greater loads for far less money.
Clear rubble? Humans are more flexible and cost less for small pieces (50 kg) and for large pieces this suit is not strong enough (tons).
It is a nice research project that might one day deliver usable tech. But it is not this day.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Dude, do you even lift?
How long until military figures out how to deploy these in fields of battle...
Even olympic powerlifters would struggle trying to hold 50kg in one hand at arms length for long , if at all, so don't sneer. Its a prototype - once they've got the design details sorted I'm sure they'll ramp up the torque.
Maybe their next invention could be a powered device that would help that guy keep his pants up. They could call it a "belt". o.O
Because the tech isn't perfected yet. And I don't expect someone as blinked as you to have the vision to see it - but if fully flexible suit able to lift hundreds of kilos or even tons would be far more useful in a lot of work enviroments than some inflexible fork lft or mini digger that can't even climb a single stair.
"...that can lift 50kg with each hand..."
Big deal. In "Kal e forn e yah" we had a governor which could do that.
Allontanarsi da lei te, cagna!
Get away from her you BITCH!
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
...you BITCH!
Lifting those weights is easy for a reasonably strong, healthy individual.
Doing it all through every work shift? Ha, no. Back trouble and drop injuries abound. It's not so much the power that's impressive as the tireless endurance.
Sorry. What are those thiings he both flies around and shoots things with? Some form of ion engine? Somebody might be able to almost build it now. But.. the power source would be somewhere around a ton and he would be tethered to it. This very well may never change.
1. Power supply. This is currently a tethered suit which is useless in a non-laboratory environment..
2. Actuator speed. All the movements are very slow. This means that it can not compensate for issues caused by unstable ground. Take this thing onto a rubble pile and it will be flat on the ground in minutes. Even on solid flat ground they do not have enough confidence to let it stand without a safety support rope.
3. Limited movement. All we saw was standing in one spot, squatting slightly, reaching out and lifting one pipe. What are the limits of it's movement. Can it pick something off the ground? can it lift over it's head. What are the limits of rotation.
4. Simple grippers. Watch him try to grasp the pipe. It looks like it takes a lot of concentration and effort. That was an optimized test with the object held in a position that would be easy to pick up. What about odd sized objects in awkward positions?
As a suit to us in a disaster relief in dirty, unstable, non-laboratory situations this suit is useless and it's technology is not readily up-gradable to fit the bill.
Yet another "give me money to throw down the drain" advertisement.
I didn't know Anthony Bourdain was reviewing robots now. What, no porky goodness in this episode?