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Robot suit available for rent

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Robot suit available for rent
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By Nick Farrell
Oct 8, 2008 | 14 Comments
Tags: Robotics | science | stomptokyo

Helps you walk even when you are legless.

A robotic suit that reads brain waves and helps people with walking disabilities will be available to rent in Japan for $US2,200 a month. HAL, which is the unfortunate name for the Hybrid Assistive Limb suit, has sensors that read brain signals directing limb movement through the skin.

The ten kilogram battery-operated computer system is belted to the waist. It captures the brain signals and sends instructions to mechanical leg braces strapped to the thighs and knees.

Cyberdyne said it will mass-produce HAL (wait, that has to be the most geeky sci-fi sentence ever constructed! -ed). The demonstration video shows a partially paralysed person getting up from a chair and walking slowly wearing the HAL suit.

HAL comes in three sizes, small, medium and large, if you are legless there is a cut price version.



 

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14 Comments
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
smadge1
Oct 8, 2008 11:32 AM
 be a robot for a day

I still prefer the CAT powerloader from Aliens Resurrection.
majestic975
Oct 8, 2008 11:48 AM
 all i need now is something to help me breathe without any effort at all and its mobile, and i'm set, i can become the ultimate lazy Homer !!
bolt_krank
Oct 8, 2008 2:29 PM
 That is great.
nesquick
Oct 8, 2008 2:41 PM
 so i wonder if any armies have any plans to use these to create super soldiers of somekind.
T_M
Oct 8, 2008 3:31 PM
 Cyberdyne? HAL? Is this a joke?
emccat
Oct 8, 2008 4:05 PM
 no i want the exo skeleton from alien 2 but with the addition of rocket launchers and a jet pack.
funky_monkey
Oct 8, 2008 4:23 PM
 I can has ironman suit?
smadge1
Oct 8, 2008 4:26 PM
 oh lol, I meant Aliens... not Aliens Resurrection. (duh)
greycat
Oct 8, 2008 5:24 PM
 "if you are legless there is a cut price version"
Pun intended, I wonder?
MedicineBaby
Oct 8, 2008 9:49 PM
 One day would be enough to wear this suit. Then I could get back at all the people I dislike :D
xidus
Oct 9, 2008 1:04 AM
 i can see it now... the defendant telling the prosecutor 'but it was the suit, honest!'
orcone
Oct 9, 2008 2:43 AM
 Oh sweet Jesus...

Cyberdine!?
Harro2
Oct 10, 2008 9:19 AM
 Sweet. Awsome invention.
The HAL could have lots of uses.
I was thinking it would be great for Astronauts in space. It could work in reverse and act like a virtual gravity suit, to stop muscle degeneration from wieghtlesness.
Military seems the obvious other aplication, I imagine seeing soldiers carrying 50cal machine guns and heavy body armour. Possibly even a clone army, 1 soldier could operate as many as needed, the enemy wouldnt know which one was operated by a human, or even they could be operated remotly?
It could have many uses in industry and construction
tailgunner
Oct 12, 2008 1:32 AM
 And here I am using my legs like a sucker..
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