Hybrid Assistive Limb Tech Allows For Wearable Robot Suit
You might dismiss this headline as pure tech geekedness but you'd be missing out. This is the real deal and may some day allow people with disabilities to do things they never have before.
An exoskeleton that can be worn by a human is a new type of robot under development at Tsukuba University. It's called Hybrid Assistive Limb, HAL for short, and anyone who wears it has potential to lift up to 10-times the weight they normally could.
"It depends on his original power, because this robot suit is controlled by the assist ratio," says Yoshiyuki Sankai of Tsukuba University. "Usually we set it at 50% or 60% or 70%. If he is a very weak person we set the assist ratio at 90%, so at that time you say 10 times."
Click on the video links to see it in action. Gotta get me some of that mech-assist goodness for the pile of leaves building up in the back yard right now. Would certainly save on the Motrin bill for those tired back-side muscles.
