Monday, April 23, 2007

HAL-5 Exoskeleton

Want to be like Noa Izumi in Patlabor? Want to be like Robocop?

Yoshiyuki Sankai, a professor at the graduate school of the University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture, has developed a cyborg-type robot suit. If a wearer wants to move a limb, its motor, reading signals from the brain, will go into action, and the hands and legs will move together with the suit. Its special feature is that the suit's hands and legs do not move on their own, but the person can move them at will.


This robot suit, HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb), is originally developed to help elderly or disabled people walk around with their own legs. It can expand and improve physical capabilities of human being too. By wearing HAL-5, you can hold up to 40 kg load by arms and can increase the maximum weight of leg press from 100 kg to 180 kg.


Starting in 2008, 400 to 500 suits will be produced annually. For an individual, the suit will be leased for 70,000 yen (approx. Cdn $664) a month plus a maintenance fee.

This HAL-5 is really cool!
For people who have to carry heavy stuff at work, this suit will definitely help them... no more back pains!
Since this suit can be used to climb mountains, tourists can use this to climb up the Rocky Mountains... may be Mt. Everest too!!


Links:
Gizmodo
Cybernics Laboratory
CYBERDYNE Inc.
HAL-5 Exoskeleton To Carry Mountain Climber

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