What we see in Iron Man’s flying robot suit might still be impossible in the near future but wearable robots are not.
Exoskeleton suits have been there for a few years now but most of it is restrained to niche medical and military markets because of high price and heaviness.
A unit of Japanese tech giant Panasonic, ActiveLink is planning to change the way people sees exoskeleton suits by making them more accessible to the market with cheaper price and practicality to wear. The company is positive that it can open up new possibilities for wider commercial use by launching a new kind of wearable robots that are currently under development.
Since ActiveLink establishment in 2003, the company has been making robotic exoskeleton suits. As of now, they are developing a new “Powerloader” suit that is expected to be on sale in 2015 with a possible price of $5,000 and $7,000, according to the firm’s president, Hiromichi Fujimoto.
Aside from those exoskeleton suits, Cyberdyne’s Hal (Hybrid Assistive Limb) suits have been available to help nursing home workers lift heavy objects and people under physiotherapy recover strength in their arms or legs. Another product is the Lockheed Martin’s HULC (Human Universal Load Carrier) which hydraulic-powered suit designed mainly for military use that allows wearers to lift up to 200 pounds.
Powerloader’s feature is Light PLL-01, which weighs 40 kilograms and it allows someone to lift items up to 30 kilograms. However, Fujimoto said that they are continuing to develop this product in order to give a better service to its consumers.
“For commercialization, we need to make something that’s more compact and lighter while further reducing the risk of falling over,” Fujimoto told reporters.
While active link suits are under development, its function is still limited. They wanted to make the suits lighter, more compact, and affordable. In that manner, the suits might be more wearable device that can be attached to your waist or arms, Fujimoto added.
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