New Prototype Exoskeleton Unveiled

[HardOCP News]

I have the same problem with these partial exoskeletons as I do with the Bionic Man television show from the 70s. Sure this device can help your arms lift 10x the weight you normally can but it will rip your hands off and/or break your wrists. What about your legs and back being able to support that weight?

 

[Kranium]

They're part robot Steve, they gon' kill us all.

Your question reminds me of a scene in an anime where a woman's exoskeletal legs are basically hacked and break her spine before walking her off a cliff.

No thanks!

 

[drklu]

Things like this could really help out the construction industry one day. I see some of our field installers walking around half crippled because the work is so hard on the body and joints. I hope one day we wont have that issue.

 

[heatlesssun]

I have the same problem with these partial exoskeletons as I do with the Bionic Man television show from the 70s.

The Bionic Man? Showing my age but Steve Austin was the Six Million Dollar Man. "We can rebuild him...we have the technology". In the early to mid 70's that was THE show for kids. I can't begin to remember the number of slow-mo fights we used to have.

 

[darament]

I think the idea of the partial suit is so that these guys don't get stressed while wanking.

Start making some caterpillar P-5000 work loader or edge of tomorrow type exosuits and maybe we can start fighting off robots and giant aliens

 

[c@Nc3r]

Partial exo-suits are a waste of time and just tech demos. Without leg and back support you will throw your back out and like was mentioned above human hands can only hold so much. So the only functional exo-suit will have hands of some sort and leg and back pieces. That goes for pretty much all applications. The only application where partial makes sense is for prosthetics. Cybernetic limb replacement makes more sense than partial exo-suits but even with those you would need to enhance the back and lower body to hold the weight of the upper body if you went to beefy. There's already been studies on the affects of current prosthetics on how they can make you develop in strange ways that can have detrimental affects on the rest of the body.

 

[MrCaffeineX]

Partial exo-suits are a waste of time and just tech demos. Without leg and back support you will throw your back out and like was mentioned above human hands can only hold so much. So the only functional exo-suit will have hands of some sort and leg and back pieces. That goes for pretty much all applications. The only application where partial makes sense is for prosthetics. Cybernetic limb replacement makes more sense than partial exo-suits but even with those you would need to enhance the back and lower body to hold the weight of the upper body if you went to beefy. There's already been studies on the affects of current prosthetics on how they can make you develop in strange ways that can have detrimental affects on the rest of the body.

What about as a device to assist with physical therapy? Let's say you've undergone some procedure that has left your arms/legs debilitated in some way. Your wrists and back can handle the weight of your body still, but your arms and/or legs just need a little help building back up to their former strength. This gives you back some much-needed mobility while you are recovering...

It looks bulky right now, but assuming that aspects of the technology pan out, it may be a great step toward something much smaller or even more along the lines of those modified limbs you are talking about (since this is really just an external modification to the limb anyway). It is probably less invasive than splicing cybernetic implants into the patient at any rate.

 

[cyclone3d]

What about as a device to assist with physical therapy? Let's say you've undergone some procedure that has left your arms/legs debilitated in some way. Your wrists and back can handle the weight of your body still, but your arms and/or legs just need a little help building back up to their former strength. This gives you back some much-needed mobility while you are recovering...

It looks bulky right now, but assuming that aspects of the technology pan out, it may be a great step toward something much smaller or even more along the lines of those modified limbs you are talking about (since this is really just an external modification to the limb anyway). It is probably less invasive than splicing cybernetic implants into the patient at any rate.

For physical rehabilitation, sure.

But that is not what they are saying it is for.

In any case, having people use exoskeletons is just a way to make the humans weaker so the robots can take over easier.

Robots - Here, let us help you by making it "easier" to do stuff.

Humans - Sounds like a good idea, let's do it.

Robots speaking among themselves - Silly humans, doing this will lessen their muscle mass making them weaker. We will strike when the time is right.

A few months down the road.

Humans - Is it just me or does stuff seem harder to do than it was before?

Robots - No, you must be imagining it.

Robots speaking amongst themselves - It is almost time to strike. The humans are getting noticeably weaker.

A few months after that.

Robots - surrender weak Humans, you are too weak to fight us.

Humans - Oh crap....

 

[MrCaffeineX]

For physical rehabilitation, sure.

But that is not what they are saying it is for.

In any case, having people use exoskeletons is just a way to make the humans weaker so the robots can take over easier.

Robots - Here, let us help you by making it "easier" to do stuff.

Humans - Sounds like a good idea, let's do it.

Robots speaking among themselves - Silly humans, doing this will lessen their muscle mass making them weaker. We will strike when the time is right.

A few months down the road.

Humans - Is it just me or does stuff seem harder to do than it was before?

Robots - No, you must be imagining it.

Robots speaking amongst themselves - It is almost time to strike. The humans are getting noticeably weaker.

A few months after that.

Robots - surrender weak Humans, you are too weak to fight us.

Humans - Oh crap....

Are you saying WALL-E was actually a warning sent back through time by our progeny to make sure we don't make these mistakes?

As far as its use is concerned, I couldn't make out much of whatever point they may have had in their video (that cell phone camera work was real dodgy), but I assume that like most other useful technology inventions, someone will find a use for it outside of its original scope or use the knowledge as a foundation for making something even better.

 

[MavericK]

Sooo the video was totally pointless, he didn't even lift something.

 

[Dildonose]

Yeah this is an ergonomic disaster waiting to happen. Can you say Emergency Room? Seriously, if you have the strength to support this bionic appendege and a heavy load just pick the load up unassisted. Another tech solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

 

[MrLonghair]

The Japanese model that this could be breaking some patents on supports you from top to bottom and will let you carry without any other stress than what wearing the exoskeleton itself puts on your body. Some shipyards use them so so that individual workers can carry things place to place instead of having to use bulky slow vehicles or lifts.