Which means we're one step closer to robotic exoskeletons. Hop aboard.
Posted 02.27.2013 at 1:59 pm
9 Comments
Hal Suit
Cyberdyne
We've been following the HAL robotic suit for a while now, and for good reason: Look at that thing! That looks like the future right there. And now it's gotten a worldwide stamp of safety approval.
This is how HAL works in a nutshell: Hop in, move an appendage slightly, and the suit detects the movement. After that, it guides your natural movement, but with robotic efficiency. So if you're a senior citizen that has trouble getting around, you can move your arm slightly and let HAL help you reach the top shelf. It's powered by a 22-pound battery attached to the waist, and the leg braces can help the wearer walk, and even climb stairs.
HAL Robotic Suit: Photo by Cyberdyne
It's already been available for rent in Japan, where it's produced by the manufacturer Cyberdyne, and now it's the first nursing-care robot to be approved based on the draft version of an international standard for robot safety. (The draft is expected to be approved later this year.) That probably puts it at the consumer forefront of robot suits, even if we've seen some military-type inventions with a similar idea.
But, no, this doesn't mean we'll all be purchasing our own personal HAL suits to make it easier to walk to the grocery store or something. The inventors created HAL to help with the elderly and disabled who need the suit to function at all, not to turn us into super-humans. Although we've seen a glimpse of that, too.
[AFP]
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I think what they meant to say was "We are so close to having our own Master Chief and our plasma nade program is also developing nicely."
What's to stop anyone from using it to walk to the grocery store or building a super villain suit?
Imagine that suit in Iron Man colors.
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!
Three words: Military weaponize it. One number: 1984
angryjack is astounded to say the least. the line between cgi in the movies and real life is starting to blur. suoer villains? that would be wild for sure. this is truly remarkable. i am thinking that a suit can be made for fire/rescue, you know so a fireman can carry a larger person or break through walls or lift a car off of someone.
angryjack meant 'super villains'
Really....a company, after seeing the series of Terminator moves, decided it should name itself Cyberdyne and then get into robotics. I think if they're going to continue to be a company they have to switch fields. Maybe they could make string. I don't feel comfortable having my movies becoming this real. We had a mini Armageddon/Deep Impact moment in Russia the other day and we have an African American president the movies about the future always said we would. The only way this all ends well is if we can clone dinosaurs around the same time robots try to take over the world for our own good. Then we can align ourselves with the dino's and ride them into battle with the robots. That the only way we have a chance at this thing. Ready...BREAK!
Really aj? I think we would be better off having the robots to align with after some super-villian clones dinosaurs and releases them on the rest of us. We can deal with the robots later.