Video: DIY Human-Powered Exoskeleton Makes You Bigger, Stronger, Funnier

Skeletonics, a six-month-old Japanese student project, has resulted in an exoskeleton made of plastic and metal that’s surprisingly dexterous and powered solely by the human embedded inside. As a bonus, the promo video looks something like a live-action Sonic the Hedgehog cutscene.

As the Skeletonics suit is unpowered, it doesn’t grant any kind of crazy strength or Iron-Man-esque powers–the Skeletonics is mostly designed to extend the reach of a human’s arms and legs, while keeping freedom of movement and dexterity. It looks like it succeeds at that, packing both working fingers that are delicate enough to hand candy to a child and spring-loaded legs that are capable of (hilariously) chasing a criminal through an underpass.

There’s some kind of weapon-ish thing embedded in the right arm–without any Japanese, I’m not totally sure what’s going on in there, but it looks like a water cannon of some sort, which keeps with the Gundam-y feel of the rest of the exoskeleton. Anyway, the video starts to get really great around the 4:00 mark, when the manufacturing clips give way to guitar-rock-scored clips of the suit in action. Check it out:

[via Danny Choo]