Wearable farming robot suit takes the load off
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 17th 2008 9:20AM
posted Jan 17th 2008 9:20AM
Hard to believe we're seeing yet another wearable robot suit emerge from Japan, eh? All sarcasm aside, there actually is a newcomer to the curiously growing market courtesy of Shigeki Toyama and colleagues from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. The aptly dubbed farming robot suit is a strap-on contraption that makes lifting objects much easier than nature intended, reportedly reducing the wear and tear (read: force) placed on one's joints, knees and back by around 50-percent. Additionally, the suit will be programmable depending on the type of work being done, but we've no idea if any third-party attachments (you know, rubber band launchers, integrated HMDs, etc.) are in the works. On the real, you'll be looking at around ¥500,000 ($4,559) to ¥1,000,000 ($9,117) to ease your load, but that could dip as low as ¥200,000 ($1,823) per suit if mass production becomes viable.[Via The Register]
Power Loader? (of Alien 2)
I cannot wait until the day that we all have robot slaves! A nerd, and a lazy mans dream come true!
ummm... it looks photoshopped.
Yeah, the reflections are all wrong. Definitely photoshopped.
I don't know if it is SChopped or not but I do know that looks like a tiny person in the background. Do they make it in little people sizes too? I'm sure the LPA (Little People Association) will be upset if it doesn't. Little people want to farm too!
LOOK OUT!
THERE'S A NINJA BEHIND YOU!
Ninjas have been ravaging farms in Japan for centuries.
And the link takes you to a page with the headline:
"Strap-on Robot"
Possibly NSFW?
God I want one SO bad.
At 2000$ every farmer and construction worker on this planet is going to want one. 2010 is going to be a great year
It has 4 settings. Maximum Speeed, Maximum Strength, Maximum Armor and Stealth Mode (invisibility).
ill just wait for the Korean copies
i need 10 robot to be my slaves. Intelligent but humble.
Where shall I start? Well with the obvious. No farmer who does so on the scale where they are lifting things by hand could ever afford this. Big farmers use skid steer loaders to lift heavy stuff. Second, farming (by hand) is hard dirty work. The same elements that are hard on the farmer would destroy a fragile piece of equipment like this in a few months. Is this thing water, dust, mud, fertilizer and manure proof? The later two are very corrosive. But after all the Japanese love novelty and gadgets.
The real mass market appeal of this is for the elderly who want to stay active. A device like this might make it possible for them to take more frequent walks, or participate in other activities, and generally maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. $4500 is a very reasonable price.
Might also increase prodcutivity of those engaged in heavy labor by allowing them to lift or carry twice as much without increasing strain over their normal load capacity.
I, for one, welcome our pricey farm-headed ridiculous-dressed hald-human, hald-robots overlords.
How much for the attachable minigun and rocket launcher?
It won't try to assimilate me will it???
Heavy boots of lead
Fills his victims full of dread
Running as fast as they can
Iron Man lives again!
mmmm i can lift 20 kilos without a robot suit
Looks like just the right thing to kill an alien queen. Oh and to help me carry my daughter to bed when she falls asleep on the couch.
Your daughter is fat.
My brother-in-law is confined to a wheelchair because he's got Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. A suit like this would give him so much independence. I hope they can get it to market in time for it to be of use to him.
Did everyone missed the hidden message?
"farming robot suit is a strap-on contraption that...ease your load"
What's up with the ninja behind the plant? That farmer has some force protection for his crops.
i would but a mass produce suit anything to make my life at work eaiser sounds good to me.
Consider the high cost of the suit an investment. You can recoup costs by robbing banks with it.
I think things like this have potential in the physical rehabilitation world. It'd be cool if someone was able to start walking immediately after a knee repair or back surgery or whatever...
Exo Squad!
Actually it has 5; Moonwalk mode.
Odd, the reply command didn't work the first time.
I gotta stop playing WoW. I instantly thought of another kind of farming robot, but those are usually found in China.
-p-
I'm still waiting on the robots that will handle a different type of load.
for the cost of that suit I'd rather spend the money on employing more workers, technology makes us weak, look around in most cases people with more technology = weaker/fatter/more isolated/dependent people
-Stevie