Commercial Exoskeletons

FalconZero writes "For those of you with superhuman aspirations, your dream may be a step closer; New Scientist (recently) and the Japan Times (last year) covered Yoshiyuki Sankai's work at the University of Tsukuba in Japan developing powered exoskeletons with commercial versions expected soon costing between $14,000 and $19,000 (£7,500-£10,000). Other work with exoskeletons previously covered here(1), here(2) and here(3)."

BLEEX

Berkeley has some videos of their BLEEX [berkeley.edu] (Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton) Project on their web page.

Video [berkeley.edu]

I swear that guy in the video is the Star Wars kid, if was making robot noises with his mouth he would have me convinced.

Re:BLEEX

The load is attached to a frame at the top of the legs, so it adds no weight to the user. They can't tear off your legs because they have the same range of motion as your legs. And it can't "go berserk" because its only control system is the human wearing it. It basically allows a person to carry a heavy load for the same distance they would be able to cover with no load.

At least, that's what I got from reading that site for a few minutes.

I for one...

Welcome our new "bio-cybernic" overlords.

Ok...

So when do we get mounted guns?

Re:Ok...

"So when do we get mounted guns?"
and get posted on the N/S Korean border?!?! No thanks!

Re:Ok...

In Korea only old people become cyborgs.

Exoman

So I was trying to find one *good* Exoman site, and I couldn't find any. (It was a short-lived 1977 TV series about a paralyzed scientist who created his own exo-suit in which he would fight crime yada yada yada).

Re:Exoman

what about Mantis [imdb.com]? Same concept, better FX.

Eh

God, exoskeletons have been done to death -- see one giant bipedal forklift, you've seen them all.

Get back to me when we have commercial powered endoskeletons. Preferably with the razor-like claw add-on.

Re:Eh

Made of adamantium, right? :)

I'd buy it...

p

Re:Eh

I don't know that I'd like that.

How would that work, anyway? You can't move if you're not watching commercials?

For that matter, is that even possible? I don't think that scientists have figured out how to tap the energy potential of commercials to the point where they actually generate energy of any kind. All scientists doing that kind of work end up with is the inability to be scientists any longer due to brain atrophy from watching too many commercials.

How about organically powered enhanced endoskeletons? Might be a bit more practical.

Personal issues

With one of these and a perl script, I don't even have to work at masturbation.

If I can only incorporate that roomba into this...

Blame it on Gundam

I'm pretty sure that only reason why they're even devising these things is because of Japan's robot anime. You know, some guy jumps into a huge robot and control it through sensors all over his body.

There is some guy here in Japan who is that crazy about the anime that developed his own exo-skeleton to move his toy Mazinga robot around. They had him on TV wearing his Mazinga get up and fighting other geek's toy robots on one of the TV shows here. Apparently there are a lot of these robot hobbyists as well as uni students building these things.

Mazinga, BTW, is a really old anime, but not far removed from the likes of say Gundam, Voltron and a billion and one other ripoffs.

Re:Blame it on Gundam

yeah, I'm sure helping spinal injury victims and the advancement of science and technology has nothing to do with it...

I, for one, welcome our new Exoskeleton Overlords!

An exoskeleton would be potentially useful for urban combat (punching through doors, knowck down walls, etc.), but probably less than you might think. Short of just walking through wall, an exoskeleton would probably be difficult to maneuver in dense environments, and those using early models would be at a lot greater risk of accidental immobilization (i.e., a sitting duck) and other potentially fatal equipment failures than someone in, say, a tank.

Alas, for Robert A. Heinlein's vision of Powersuits in Starship Troopers, exoskeletons, like those giant Japanese Mechs, are very cool in fiction, but probably not terribly useful in reality compared to more mundane alternatives.

Lawrence Person, Science Fiction Writer

Re:I, for one, welcome our new Exoskeleton Overlor

I disagree.

Take a squad of 25 men, and put them in suits (albiet suits somewhat more advanced than these). Like Heinlein's, to a large degree. Making them nuclear powered might be practical, to some degree, if they were to give a significant edge in battle.

If the suits were 8' fall or so and had thick (ie, tank-level reactive) body armor, the squad of 25 could very likely out-maneuver most tank/armor batallions of the world, and most certainly out-gun all but the most intense infantry. They'd be able to withstand multiple RPG-type hits (possibly, provided the soldier isn't injured due to percussion), and would be harder to hit than a vehicle by far. With the assistance of advanced machinery and electronics, they'd likely be able to do a better, faster job sniping than most snipers, and be able to carry much larger guns than an unarmored soldier - though probably not quite as big as a vehicle-mounted weapon.

Think of them as something between a soldier on foot with a troop rifle (M16 or BAR) and a HV with a 100mm cannon. Maybe they'd carry a 30mm cannon with a couple thousand rounds, a decent sniper rifle, and a 20mm grenade launcher with plenty of ammo for it - significantly more power than even a squad could dish out, but not as much as an armored vehicle.

I don't imagine such suits being used to replace, say, foot infantry or even advanced groups like 1st Recon USMC or Navy SEAL. I think they'd largely be used in support capacity for those squads, or for the troops with less prowess. They'd likely get carted around on a transport truck, just like any other piece of specialized machinery - only deployed when needed (such as, say, for guard duty).

I obviously don't think such things are near to implimentation or deployment, but provided things don't tank in the near future, I suspect something similar - or at least a step in that direction - will be coming to the US Armed Forces within a while.

Re:I, for one, welcome our new Exoskeleton Overlor

Perhaps the biggest problem: balance

I think balance is starting become a solved problem. Look at the Segway for starters... plus previous Slashdot articles have linked to some very impressive videos of (small) robots doing handstands, ballet, etc. So it appears that balance is just a matter of having a fast enough computer running a clever enough feedback algorithm.

I think a more difficult problem will be energy: how does your exoskeleton carry enough fuel/energy to be useful without adding too much weight or compromising the user's safety?

I dunno, it's a bit of a stretch...

I mean really, of all people...the Japanese coming up with something like this? No way.

my idea for how to use this technology:

Create an event which is half Battle Bots and half Ultimate Fighting Championship!

Awesome!

Now the fall of Oscorp is just one successful test away!

p

They'll be made by Caterpillar...

"Get away from her, you BITCH!"

May be tackling the wrong problem

Neat as this stuff is, I doubt it will really help the majority of mobility impaired like my father. My father suffered from severe arthritis that left his knees and hips unable to bear his weight, and of course flexing them was excruciating, assisted or not.

A lot of wear an tear is from load bearing, and perhaps these powered suite address this to a degree, but I suspect in many cases they would exacerbate the problem for arthritis sufferers by adding to the weight load on joints, even while enabling superhuman lifting capabilities.

Even if they address the load issue on joints, it is overkill from what is really needed by tens of millions. I have not seen such a thing, but does anyone know of some kind of lightweight synchronized brace system? Something that would distribute the body's load to the hips directly and lock when the joints aren't moving? I have seen leg braces before, but not articulated ones that auto-lock. One thing that my father believed contributed to the breakdown of his joints were the long periods he spent standing doing his job as a chef. Again, a locking brace system would seem the answer for people that need to be on their feet long periods, but may have the beginnings of joint break down.

Re:Halo?

The hell with that. I'm applying to the Brotherhood of Steel [nma-fallout.com] ;)

-fren

Re:Limited Usefulness

We had the technology to build them back then??? Wow, that's news to me. The Japanese must seriously be SO behind in terms of technology that they are still building things from the 1950s.

On another note, I'm beginning to fear the impending rise of Japan's technological skills. With their recent attempt to amend their constitution to allow for a standing army along with their recent changes to their textbooks that make their actions during WW2 seem honorable instead of atrocious. I mean, sure there are some good uses for the new exoskeleton technology. But wouldn't the BEST way to help disabled people would be to research stem cells and how to regenerate nerves and muscles??? This exoskeleton that makes you twice as strong and straped to a computer which allows wireless hook up sure does make me think more of war than it does of helping old ladies. But hey, that's just me, I'm paranoid.

Re:Limited Usefulness

I'm beginning to fear the impending rise of Japan's technological skills.

The impending rise? Where have you been for the last few decades? As a country their technological skills and drive have been cutting edge for a long time now.

With their recent attempt to amend their constitution to allow for a standing army

If my country was that close the North Korea and China I'd really want it to have a standing army too. I guess they could rely on the Americans for ever, but they have a lot of other commitments and what if you don't always agree with them?

changes to their textbooks that make their actions during WW2 seem honorable instead of atrocious

Now that's a massive generalisation, assuming you are talking about the same thing as the Chinese have been protesting about. A textbook, not all, done by a company not the government referred to the rape of Nanking as an "incident". Now that isn't good, it was a massacre and a war crime, but you may be generalising just a bit from it.

But wouldn't the BEST way to help disabled people would be to research stem cells and how to regenerate nerves and muscles

It would be another way. We don't know it would be the best way until we tried both. Even then, best how? Cost? How quickly it is available? Quality of life for sufferers? Percentage of sufferers it works for?

It's pretty rare with medical conditions that one treatment works for everyone. Researching multiple ways to deal with it is generally a good thing, that saying about all you eggs in one basket.

Yes, exos could have military applications, (a lot of tech can, if it can it usually gets used) the US army has already said it is interested, and researching. Given their military budget they would almost certainly be the first to use such technology if it becomes practical.