Years after the HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) suit first debuted, it seems that Cyberdyne's pride and joy is about to get really real. According to a report over at HPlus Magazine, the company is linking up with Daiwa House in order to "begin mass production" of the cybernetic bodysuit. You already know what it does -- inflates the ego, boosts your strength and scores you loads of nerd dates -- but here's the crucial part: $4,200. Of course, there's no hard date on when the first of the 400 annual units produced will be made available, but we'd probably get up with someone about a pre-order if you're serious about going bionic.

[Thanks, Phil]

For a company most famous for its wheeled products, Honda certainly seems quite focused on things to help people get about on their own two feet, introducing another new prototype machine with just that in mind. Unlike the earlier Walking Assist Device, which is intended just to help patients re-learn how to walk, the new (and cunningly named) Walking Assist Device with Bodyweight Support System is for anyone who needs a lift -- even those who are perfectly healthy. To use it you basically straddle a bicycle seat with robotic legs, tie it to your shoes, and then (gingerly) go about your business, uncomfortably demonstrated in a video after the break. The legs support your body when you crouch and give little tugs on your feet when you walk, making bipedal mobility less of a strain. A Honda engineer said "It reduces stress, and you should feel less tired." Less tired, yes, and less exercised too. We envision a future where spindly robotic legs shudder under the weight of our grossly obese frames -- but maybe we've seen Wall-E too many times.

[Via Associated Press]

ARGO Medical Technologies' ReWalk has been out a few months now, but it's tough to really appreciate what this thing can do unless you see a patient utilize one on video. Hailed as a "quasi-robotic ambulation system," the wearable device was specifically created to assist those with lower-limb disabilities and give them back upright mobility. In the video waiting in the read link, one particular individual relies on the ReWalk to stand up and move about after being stricken to a wheelchair for 20 years -- no need to take our word for it, though, real live proof is but a click away.

[Via MedGadget]

Troy Hurtubise has certainly auctioned off a few grizzly fighting suits before (not to mention the Halo-inspired Trojan), but this is likely your one and only shot at procuring the original Project Grizzly Mk VI suit worn by Troy himself in the generally unknown cult classic Project Grizzly. The suit is being offered to the highest bidder as the Grizzly Proof exhibit in Toronto shuts down, and while the starting bid sits at $500, it'll take upwards of 40 grand before Mr. Hurtubise's debts associated with the suit are cleared. C'mon, you know that's all the reason you need to throw your hat into the ring.

[Thanks, Cantraider]

Sorry, but squats are so 20th Century. Instead, strap on the HULC -- Human Universal Load Carrier -- exoskeleton and effortlessly carry an extra 200lbs. HULC not only increases your human payload, but it also "decreases [your] metabolic cost". In other words, it seems Berkeley Bionics developed this thing for extremely lazy people, those who lose their breath easily, or for those on what they call "long duration missions". This is no joke, though -- the company is taking orders for the suit already.

[Via Switched]

We love a good anime-inspired mechanical exoskeleton just as much as the next person, but most social contexts don't exactly smile upon lazy nerds doing their best impression of an AT-ST walker. That's why we're rather intrigued by this pneumatic and highly wearable soft exoskeleton put together by some folks at the University of Michigan. The suit is a hybrid system with electronics responsible for pumping the leg around, and a roboticist from the Science University of Tokyo is working on a version for the upper extremities.

[Via MAKE]

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]

Have you been waiting for a legion of half-man, half-machine storm troopers to descend upon your city and blaze a round of hellfire in all general directions? If you said yes, that's kind of weird. At any rate, you can consider yourself one step closer to cyborg annihilation thanks to a company called Sarcos and its semi-scary exoskeleton -- which will make any regular old soldier into a Terminator-like killing machine (as far as we can tell). Sure, they demo the unit lifting heavy equipment and reducing fatigue of the user, but we know what this thing is really for -- and it doesn't involve food drops. Check the video after the break to have your mind shattered into a million delicious pieces.

While you'd heard the whispers of a robotic prosthetic arm being crafted by Dean Kamen and his engineering colleagues, very little details have since surfaced on the project. Thankfully, a video was captured during a recent conference in Honolulu, Hawaii where Dean was addressing the FIRST Robotics competition. During the speech, however, he segued (ahem) into a brief glimpse at what's been going on behind the scenes with the device. Shown as "Gen X - Separate Exo Control," the robotic arm was seen demonstrated by team members grasping a water bottle from a friend, picking up an ink pen and turning the wrist over in order to write, and even scratching his nose. Kamen explained that haptic response was paramount, and the "fully completed" prototype sports 14 degrees of freedom (and actuators) and weighs less than nine pounds. Click on through for the captured demonstration.

[Via BoingBoing]

Finally all this research into artificial limbs and human strength augmentation -- as if we'd want to lift stuff -- has resulted in a robotic exoskeleton that doesn't help your muscles do more, but instead allows them to do less. It was designed by researchers at University of Michigan, and is currently being tested on healthy subjects. The ankle exoskeleton is fitted with electrodes which are attached to the wearer's leg muscles and allow the robotics to anticipate muscle movement and perform the action itself. At first a healthy user's gait is disrupted by this extra boost, but after about 30 minutes the person learns to use their own muscles less and have the exoskeleton do most of the walking. We figure similar tests done on a blogger would result in total adaptation in about 7 seconds. Of course, the plan down the road is to use these pneumatic artificial muscles to sense the weaker electrical signals being sent by certain people with spinal injuries or neurological disorders to allow them to move with full strength or to rehabilitate old muscle movements, but that testing has yet to begin, and for now the achievements of this project are purely for the lazy at heart.