I’m sure plenty of moviegoers have come out of a movie franchise like Iron Man and mused about what it would be like to have access to the kind of technology/super power we see on the big screen. Well wonder no more, as this Real-Life Iron Man suit is on it’s way to being fully functional. Unfortunately it doesn’t lool nearly as cool, and as far as I can tell, you aren’t going to able to fly in it. A real pity, right?
As if the original post could read my mind, when I saw this picture of the suit I immediately thought of the scene from “Aliens” when Ripley hops in a steel suit usually used for construction and beats the snot out of the Alien queen (well that’s arguable since eventually the queen got flushed out the airlock..but whatever she got in some good punches).. This suit doesn’t quite have the same feel as that exoskeleton suit, but if you’ve ever seen the cartoon Exosquad it’s something along those lines. Scientists in Japan created HAL (Creepy, come on guys, different name here) or “human assisted living” exoskeleton to provide users with super strength. You aren’t going to be taking on any super villains, but you will be able to lift objects 10 times heavier that what you’d be able to pick up normally. If you’re wondering about movement, the company has you covered. The suit actually reads brainwaves, so the associated movements are much smoother than you might expect from a robotic suit. Still you better have deep pockets if you expect to pick one up, they are leased out at $2,000 a month. Not exactly chump change for your average old person who’s stuck in a wheelchair, but hardly surprising given the undoubtedly high research costs associated with developing a product like this.
If you’re wondering if all of the cool robotic technology comes out of Japan, well..it does. I mean look at this Japan based rescue robot, who’s willing to risk life an mechanical limb to pick you up and get back to safety. While I’m sure we have more grandiose visions of what we’d do with a suit that provides super strength, it’s actually used for a much more mundane purpose: Helping old people. Not as flashy as being a billionaire with a bad attitude and a flying suit, but an important function nonetheless, no?
Via: Asylum
