Taro's new GUNDAM suit

[Taro Toporific]

GUNDAM motorbike helmet
http://lalabitmarket.channel.or.jp/goods.html?id=02061

Japan to market 'robot suit'
Daily Telegraph, Australia - 21 Aug
JAPANESE companies are preparing for the commercial launch of a ``robot suit'' that helps aged or physically disabled people walk, get up the stairs or seat ...
Trading house Mitsui and Co. and some 30 other Tokyo firms plan to set up a joint venture in April or May next year to market the powered suit The powered suit, code-named HAL-3 (Hybrid Assistive Leg), consists of a computer and batteries in the backpack as well as four actuators attached around the knees and hip joints...
...user can walk at a speed of four kilometers per hour with little physical exertion and avoid the jerky stop-go moves of ordinary robots.... mid-term goal for the project is to sell some 100 suits a year at a price of one million yen (8,440 dollars).

[kurohinge1]

Daily Telegraph, Australia - 21 Aug
... The powered suit, code-named HAL-3 (Hybrid Assistive Leg) ...

OPEN THE BAY DOORS, HAL



ZANNEN DEKIMASEN, DEEBIDO-SAN

[GargoyleTS]

And then we'll get this



followed by this



And then I will get my damned Gundam Right before the Transformers show up to liberate their enslaved bretheren!

[Taro Toporific]

Daily Telegraph, Australia - 21 Aug
... The powered suit, code-named HAL-3 (Hybrid Assistive Leg) ...

OPEN THE BAY DOORS, HAL

Notice they can't get the product name correct: Hybrid Assistive Leg (not Legs).

[kurohinge1]

And, magically, a solution to the increasing numbers of elderly moping around the streets is here - put them to work in their HAL Power Lifters

[Taro Toporific]

... put them to work in their HAL Power Lifters

Boring reality

Caption: A student displays the prototype of the ''HAL-3.''
PHOTO: AFP

[kurohinge1]

Notice they can't get the product name correct: Hybrid Assistive Leg (not Legs).

Maybe they're sold separately. You have to then pay twice the quoted price unless you're content to go around in circles

Boring reality

The lad's stance suggests that pensioners will now be able to leap two steps in a single bound. The machine may have the power but how many of the users will still have the balance? Maybe our streets will become littered with toppled-over nenpai, stuck on their backs with their HAL machine legs flailing above them ...

[Caustic Saint]

Boring reality
Caption: A student displays the prototype of the ''HAL-3.''

Bah! How long before he decides to get X-TrEmE and start doing peg grinds, BMX-style?

[Kanchou]

I want my Valkyrie, dammit.

[Taro Toporific]

I want my Valkyrie, dammit.

Urrrr, ummmm, so does Taro.




Actually I'd buy one but...

As metioned before "Balance" is being ignored by the "HAL-3" device. Balance involves both a neuro- and muscular issues:

The "HAL-3" is NOT providing any help for the users feet about the ground, its angles, its texture, etc.
The "HAL-3" is NOT providing any help or inputs from the inner ear for feedback
The "HAL-3" is NOT providing proprioception to accurately judge joint angles.
The "HAL-3" is NOT providing way to integrate these above inputs.
The "HAL-3" is NOT providing micro-output to maintain balance, especially while walking or when stepping onto something uneven.

From the picture, the "HAL-3" exoskeleton only looks to to amplify only a few gross muscle movements. Those connected with balance requiring strength in the ankle joints, the feet, etc. as well as angular motions of the knees don't appear to be covered in this device.

BTW: Is anyone else reminded of "WRONG TROUSERS"?


Smartsuit
http://discuss.foresight.org/critmail/sci_nano/3340.html

[Taro Toporific]

[djgizmoe]

[quote="&quot"]I've found my perfect woman: Japanese Robo-Nurse with power pants! Wo0t!


Nice one, Taro, that was hee-larious.