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Robotic Prostheses, Suits, Exoskeletons & Individual Conveyances

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I read that the British MoD have developed a Mech-Suit for its elite forces. Its made of Titanium, PolyCarbon and some other stuff. It allows a soldier to have upgraded strength andcarry twice as much equipment. It uses sensors in it's joints that activate powerful mini motors to aid the individual!
It can keep a soldier walking for 3 times longer at 8.5km/h and carrying heavier weapons and more gear. And who said that Japanese animation was OTT!:D
 
Nobody told me!
It's not in some way related to FIST, is it? If it isn't I've probably just commited a breach of the Official Secrets Act...
 
Its frightening though, governments develop sh1t like this to make sure they have the absolute monopoly on violence and can never be challenged by the people they represent.
 
yep expensive tho...200 guys with sharp sticks and one grunt in an exso...who would win?
 
For some reason it reminds me of Wallace and Gromit.

Ah yes, The Wrong Trousers. Imagine the possibilities, if you will.

:p
 
If you want to know how practical powered armour would be read "Bill, the Galactic Hero" by Harry Harrison. Think what happens to Mech Infantry in a marsh. Or misjudge that super jump by a fraction. OOps!
 
DAMN did that give me chills! It was probably 12 years ago I read the 'Stainless Steel Rat' series and forgot about them.......the second I read his name it came back to me, I haven't read "Bill the Galactic Hero" though..........
 
from Yahoo:

Japan ready to market "robot suit"

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese companies are preparing for the commercial launch of a "robot suit" that helps aged or physically disabled people walk, get up the stairs or seat themselves to relax without a chair.

Trading house Mitsui and Co. and some 30 other Tokyo firms plan to set up a joint-venture in April or May next year to market the powered suit developed by Yoshiyuki Sankai, professor and engineer at Tsukuba University, officials said Thursday.

"This is neither a robot in machine factories nor a one for amusement like a pet robot. This is a brand-new proposal projecting a future image of relations between people and robots," Sankai said.

"The suit practically supports people's life, focusing on the strong point of robots," Sankai said.

The powered suit, code-named HAL-3 (Hybrid Assistive Leg), consists of a computer and batteries in the backpack as well as four actuators attached around the knees and hip joints.

The motor-powered devices guide movement of the legs as the computer calculates the user's next motion by detecting faint electric signals from the muscle, the professor said.

With the equipment, the user can walk at a speed of four kilometres (2.5 miles) per hour with little physical exertion and avoid the jerky stop-go moves of ordinary robots.

As a first step, the new venture plans to lease or sell 10 prototypes next year, targetting hospitals and nursing-care facilities at home and abroad, Sankai said.

A mid-term goal for the project is to sell some 100 suits a year at a price of one million yen (8,440 dollars).

Sankai also noted that Japan's greying society was a key consideration behind the development of the suit.

"As the country is heading rapidly towards an ageing society, the demand for such a robotic support system will certainly grow," the professor said.

"Not only the elderly but also disabled people will be able to live comfortably, leaving heavy physical tasks to the suit," he said.

The need for Japan to take measures to deal with its ageing society is increasingly urgent. The proportion of people aged 65 or older in Japan came to a record high of 18.82 percent, according to the latest government report on population released on Wednesday.

Improvements to the suit are already being worked on.

The weight of the system will be soon reduced from the current 17 kilogrammes (37 pounds) to some 10 kilogrammes, while the projecting part of the actuators will be halved to five centimetres (one and three quarter inches).

"We have also started developing a version for arms," Sankai said. "Eventually, we aim to make a suit that is thin enough to be worn like underwear and will allow users to run and move their arms freely."

Japan was in the vanguard of robotic technology, developing industry robots in the post-war period of rapid economic expansion, and has recently enjoyed a boom in leisure-oriented robots and talking, walking humanoid robots, developed by major Japanese firms such as Sony and Honda Motor.


photo availible here:

story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030821/tc_afp/japan_robot_technology_030821084042
Link is dead. No archived version found.
 
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I think this is wonderful; My daughter attends a special school, and is the only able bodied girl in her class;

For some reason, locally, cerebral palsy and brittle-bone syndrome affects girls more strongly than it does boys.

Beause of this, I imagined a cyborg pioneer heroine, called Ruth Duorkin; she is the first of the true cyborgs, but by no means the last.
 
Sooooooooo sci-fi:

Artificial exoskeleton takes the strain

18:27 05 March 04


A human exoskeleton, which could help soldiers and fire-fighters carry heavy loads, is about to take its first public steps.

Called the Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton, or BLEEX, it is part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency venture designed to help foot soldiers carry heavier loads over even longer distances, by connecting robotic supports to their legs to reduce the load.

Besides helping soldiers, it could also assist medical personnel carrying wounded people from disaster areas, or fire fighters in hauling heavy equipment up countless flights of stairs.

A human "pilot" straps the exoskeleton's legs to their own and dons a large rucksack that contains the engine, control system and a space for the payload, says project leader Homayoon Kazerooni.


Centre of gravity


Although the device itself weighs a hefty 50 kilograms, the pilot should not notice this because the machine takes its own weight, with the control system ensuring that the centre of gravity is always within the pilot's footprint.

In addition to its own weight, it will carry a 32 kilogram payload within the backpack. To the pilot this would feel like they were carrying just 2 kilograms, says Kazerooni.

Later this year they will begin trying a new more compact engine that is more than twice as powerful and should make it possible to carry loads of nearly 60 kilograms. "If the payload goes even higher then the pilot takes the extra weight," he says.


Hands free


"The key element is that the pilot needs no joystick, keyboard or buttons to operate it," says Kazerooni, leaving your hands free for other tasks.

This is because the entire control system is designed to ensure it moves in concert with the person wearing the exoskeleton. "You just push your leg and it moves," he says.

To drive the powerful hydraulics necessary for heavy lifting BLEEX has a small purpose built combustion engine built into it. On a full tank the system should be able to run for as long as two hours.

But there are plans to try a quieter, cleaner type of engine. This kind of motor would run on hydrogen peroxide, which expands rapidly without combusting when it comes into contact with a catalyst.

The system will be demonstrated at the DARPA Technical Symposium in Anaheim, California, between 9 and 11 March.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994750
 
"designed to help foot soldiers carry heavier loads over even longer distances, by connecting robotic supports to their legs to reduce the load."

It's a fabulous idea - such a shame they haven't discovered things like Jeeps and trucks and have to carry this stuff...
:)
 
Armies of Robot Legs

Robotic Legs Could Produce Super Troops
By MICHELLE LOCKE, Associated Press Writer

BERKELEY, Calif. - Move over Bionic Man and make room for BLEEX — the Berkeley Lower Extremities Exoskeleton, with strap-on robotic legs designed to turn an ordinary human into a super strider.

Ultimately intended to help people like soldiers or firefighters carry heavy loads for long distances, these boots are made for marching.

"The design of this exoskeleton really benefits from human intellect and the strength of the machine," says Homayoon Kazerooni, who directs the Robotics and Human Engineering Laboratory at the University of California-Berkeley.

The exoskeleton consists of a pair of mechanical metal leg braces that include a power unit and a backpack-like frame. The braces are attached to a modified pair of Army boots and are also connected, although less rigidly, to the user's legs.

More than 40 sensors and hydraulic mechanisms function like a human nervous system, constantly calculating how to distribute the weight being borne and create a minimal load for the wearer.

"There is no joystick, no keyboard, no push button to drive the device," says Kazerooni, a professor of mechanical engineering. "The pilot becomes an integral part of the exoskeleton."

In lab experiments, says Kazerooni, testers have walked around in the 100-pound exoskeleton plus a 70-pound backpack and felt as if they were carrying just five pounds.

Eventually, the device could help rescuers haul heavy equipment up high-rise buildings or turn tired troops into striding super soldiers.

What it won't do is turn you into a Borg, the gadget-happy gladiators of "Star Trek" fame.

"The exoskeleton is not going to magically transform people into killing machines," says Kazerooni, known to his students as Professor Kaz. "They're really good, it turns out, at enabling firefighters, soldiers, post-disaster rescue crews to carry heavy loads over great distances for hours."

So, no cyborg cops. But at least you get Terminator togs.

Video of the BLEEX in action, which can be viewed at http://www.me.berkeley.edu/hel/bleex.htm shows a steel-spiked symbiosis of man and machine, marching about to the techno-industrial drone of grinding motors. The next step for the BLEEX team is making the power source quieter and stronger and miniaturizing components.

BLEEX is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon research and development arm, and was among the projects being showcased at a DARPA tech symposium this week in Anaheim.

The project is one of scores in the field of robotics, which ranges from industrial machines that assemble cars to orthotics, surgical devices that activate or supplement weakened limbs or functions.

Excitement about robotics was fanned by this week's DARPA-sponsored Mojave Desert race for fully autonomous vehicles, and the field is making strides worldwide.

In Japan, a leader in robot research, Sony Corp . has developed a child-shaped walking robot, known as Qrio, and Honda Motor Co. has also developed a walking, talking humanoid robot. This spring, some Japanese companies plan to start marketing a "robot suit," a motorized, battery-operated device intended to help old and infirm people move around.

The current favorite in the DARPA race came out of Carnegie Mellon University, where professor Matthew Mason is working on intelligent robots including the Mobipulator, which uses its wheels to move things as well as for locomotion.

"There's just too much to do," says Mason. "Every time that there is an advance in computing, there are just so many more things that it becomes possible to do. Robotics is really about interfacing computers to the physical world so that their sensors give them a better concept of what's going on around them — they can make interesting things happen instead of just sitting there in their little beige boxes."

Kazerooni isn't offering test drives of the exoskeleton. But if he were, Mason would be interested.

"It looks really exciting," says Mason. "I'd like to try it on myself."


Story
 
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Embracing the Artificial Limb

Embracing the Artificial Limb By Rachel Metz
Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,66633,00.html

02:00 AM Feb. 18, 2005 PT

If your vision of the future includes Robocop-like body appendages, several scientists hope to meet you there.

This isn't a silly cyborg fantasy, but what a group of scientists from Brown University, MIT and the Providence VA Medical Center in Providence, Rhode Island, see as the future of artificial limbs -- a project they have funded through the next five years via a $7.2 million research grant and an additional amount to build an advanced rehabilitation facility from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The goal is to create artificial "biohybrid" limbs that merge man-made components with human tissue -- muscles, skeletal architecture and the neurological system --and work like fully functioning human appendages.

"Basically the challenge of developing a prosthesis is blending it or creating this intimacy between the artificial device and the human," said Hugh Herr, an MIT assistant professor in the school's health sciences and technology department and director of the biomechatronics group in its Media Lab.

Herr, himself an amputee, is working on the project by focusing on building "the next generation" of artificial knees and ankles. Other aspects of the biohybrid program will be generally applicable to both arms and legs, he said.

That such a futuristic program would be funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs is no surprise to some. In the last year, the VA alone fitted 6,000 new prosthetic limbs and performed adjustments and repairs on 40,000 of them, said Stephan Fihn, acting chief research officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"In executive speak, it's a ... major line of business for us," he said.

While many of those fitted with new limbs are older veterans, there are also plenty of recently injured younger amputees who were wounded in conflicts in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. The biohybrid work focuses on helping these types of people -- those with what Fihn calls "traumatic amputations."

More generally speaking, Herr estimated there are about 1 million amputees in the United States alone, and said about 150,000 leg prostheses are sold annually.

The idea for marrying an artificial limb to the human body sprang from the ideas of many different scientists, said Dr. Roy Aaron, an orthopedic professor at Brown Medical School and director of the project's Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine. Now, scientists from Brown, MIT and the Providence VA Medical Center are working to make this Inspector Gadget-like brainchild a reality.

There are some prostheses currently on the market -- the programmable C-Leg, for example -- that use computer chip technology, Fihn said. The C-Leg can be customized to work with a wearer's movement idiosyncrasies. Over time, it becomes "much more active than a passive appendage," Fihn said. But still, like uncomfortable wood and plastic limb replacements of the past, even this advanced model must be physically attached to the user.

For a biohybrid limb, doctors might insert a metallic rod into the residual bone of an amputee's limb and build the prosthesis around that platform, Fihn said.

Research will cover several different topics, including prosthetic limbs, tissue engineering, neuroscience, limb-lengthening techniques, ways of integrating prostheses with users by attaching them directly to amputees' bones, and the regeneration of skin, muscles and nerves.

Much of the general science necessary to create the final product is already in place, Aaron said, but some things, like neuroscience, will be used in new ways. So while recent reports showed the development of technology that allows users to move computer cursors with their minds, Aaron and his colleagues are wondering if they can use similar techniques to enable a person to move a robotic limb.

Another challenge that must be overcome is the risk of infection to the user.

"The problem, of course, is this is a foreign body that is simultaneously inside and outside the body," Fihn said.

Herr said he hopes to start testing biologically inspired leg devices -- prostheses that move like actual human legs but aren't biologically implanted -- in about a year.

"And the second step, pardon the pun, is linking that leg to the neural signals. And maybe a final step is attaching that limb directly to the skeleton," he said.

Lower-extremity amputees would qualify to test the prosthetics, Aaron said. He supposed wounded veterans would have first dibs, but said they would consider anybody who fit the criteria.

The final products of this research could help amputees both physically and psychologically. People tend not to be ashamed but "often celebrate the fact that they have an artificial limb, when it actually works," Herr said.

Those who've lost limbs currently view their prostheses as tools, not as parts of their own bodies, he said, adding that the group projects that when they can blend the two, amputees will "in a more profound way truly accept the artificial limb."
 
Bionic suit offers wearers super-strength


A ROBOT suit has been developed that could help older people or those with disabilities to walk or lift heavy objects.

Dubbed HAL, or hybrid assistive limb, the latest versions of the suit will be unveiled this June at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan, which opened last month. A commercial product is slated for release by the end of the year.

HAL is the result of 10 years' work by Yoshiyuki Sankai of the University of Tsukuba in Japan, and integrates mechanics, electronics, bionics and robotics in a new field known as cybernics. The most fully developed prototype, HAL 3, is a motor-driven metal "exoskeleton" that you strap onto your legs to power-assist leg movements. A backpack holds a computer with a wireless network connection, and the batteries are on a belt.

Two control systems interact to help the wearer stand, walk and climb stairs. A "bio-cybernic" system uses bioelectric sensors attached to the skin on the legs to monitor signals transmitted from the brain to the muscles. It can do this because when someone intends to stand or walk, the nerve signal to the muscles generates a detectable electric current on the skin's surface. These currents are picked up by the sensors and sent to the computer, which translates the nerve signals into signals of its own for controlling electric motors at the hips and knees of the exoskeleton. It takes a fraction of a second for the motors to respond accordingly, and in fact they respond fractionally faster to the original signal from the brain than the wearer's muscles do.

While the bio-cybernic system moves individual elements of the exoskeleton, a second system provides autonomous robotic control of the motors to coordinate these movements and make a task easier overall, helping someone to walk, for instance. The system activates itself automatically once the user starts to move. The first time they walk, its sensors record posture and pattern of motion, and this information is stored in an onboard database for later use. When the user walks again, sensors alert the computer, which recognises the movement and regenerates the stored pattern to provide power-assisted movement. The actions of both systems can be calibrated according to a particular user's needs, for instance to give extra assistance to a weaker limb.

The HAL 4 and HAL 5 prototypes, which will also be demonstrated at Expo 2005, don't just help a person to walk. They have an upper part to assist the arms, and will help a person lift up to 40 kilograms more than they can manage unaided. The new HALs will also eliminate the need for a backpack. Instead, the computer and wireless connection have been shrunk to fit in a pouch attached to the suit's belt. HAL 5 also has smaller motor housings, making the suit much less bulky around the hips and knees.

HAL 3 weighs 22 kilograms, but the help it gives the user is more than enough to compensate for this. "It's like riding on a robot, rather than wearing one," says Sankai. He adds that HAL 4 will weigh 17 kilograms, and he hopes HAL 5 may be lighter still.

Sankai has had many requests for the devices from people with brain and spinal injuries, so he is planning to extend the suit's applications to include medical rehabilitation. The first commercial suits are likely to cost between 1.5 and 2 million yen ($14,000 to $19,000).


http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns? ... 624945.800
 
Bionic suit offers wearers super-strength

* 09 April 2005
* Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
* John Boyd

A ROBOT suit has been developed that could help older people or those with disabilities to walk or lift heavy objects.

Dubbed HAL, or hybrid assistive limb, the latest versions of the suit will be unveiled this June at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan, which opened last month. A commercial product is slated for release by the end of the year.

HAL is the result of 10 years' work by Yoshiyuki Sankai of the University of Tsukuba in Japan, and integrates mechanics, electronics, bionics and robotics in a new field known as cybernics. The most fully developed prototype, HAL 3, is a motor-driven metal "exoskeleton" that you strap onto your legs to power-assist leg movements. A backpack holds a computer with a wireless network connection, and the batteries are on a belt.

Two control systems interact to help the wearer stand, walk and climb stairs. A "bio-cybernic" system uses bioelectric sensors attached to the skin on the legs to monitor signals transmitted from the brain to the muscles. It can do this because when someone intends to stand or walk, the nerve signal to the muscles generates a detectable electric current on the skin's surface. These currents are picked up by the sensors and sent to the computer, which translates the nerve signals into signals of its own for controlling electric motors at the hips and knees of the exoskeleton. It takes a fraction of a second for the motors to respond accordingly, and in fact they respond fractionally faster to the original signal from the brain than the wearer's muscles do.

While the bio-cybernic system moves individual elements of the exoskeleton, a second system provides autonomous robotic control of the motors to coordinate these movements and make a task easier overall, helping someone to walk, for instance. The system activates itself automatically once the user starts to move. The first time they walk, its sensors record posture and pattern of motion, and this information is stored in an onboard database for later use. When the user walks again, sensors alert the computer, which recognises the movement and regenerates the stored pattern to provide power-assisted movement. The actions of both systems can be calibrated according to a particular user's needs, for instance to give extra assistance to a weaker limb.

The HAL 4 and HAL 5 prototypes, which will also be demonstrated at Expo 2005, don't just help a person to walk. They have an upper part to assist the arms, and will help a person lift up to 40 kilograms more than they can manage unaided. The new HALs will also eliminate the need for a backpack. Instead, the computer and wireless connection have been shrunk to fit in a pouch attached to the suit's belt. HAL 5 also has smaller motor housings, making the suit much less bulky around the hips and knees.

HAL 3 weighs 22 kilograms, but the help it gives the user is more than enough to compensate for this. "It's like riding on a robot, rather than wearing one," says Sankai. He adds that HAL 4 will weigh 17 kilograms, and he hopes HAL 5 may be lighter still.

Sankai has had many requests for the devices from people with brain and spinal injuries, so he is planning to extend the suit's applications to include medical rehabilitation. The first commercial suits are likely to cost between 1.5 and 2 million yen ($14,000 to $19,000).

----------------------
From issue 2494 of New Scientist magazine, 09 April 2005, page 19

Source (with good picture)

Never wise calling anything HAL. :shock:
 
Robotic Arm Aids Stroke Victims

by Ed Susman
UPI Correspondent
San Francisco (UPI) Feb 08, 2007

A robotic arm appears to help stroke patients regain some of the function lost in the brain attack that cost them partial use of their limbs, doctors demonstrated Wednesday. "We haven't been able to have patients regain all of their arm strength, but many of them tell us they can feel the difference," said Steven Cramer, associate professor in neurology, anatomy and neurobiology at the University of California at Irvine.
In a study presented at the annual International Stroke Conference, Cramer said the robotic arm assists patients in performing certain tasks that were lost in a previous brain attack. For example, if a person cannot complete a fist as part of gripping test, the Hand-Wrist Assisting Robotic Device (HOWARD) will gently complete the motion.

In addition to training the arm and hand muscles how to work again, Cramer said the muscle signals travel back to the brain, reminding the brain how to do the task. "Robot-assisted therapy may help rewire the brain and make weak limbs move better long afterwards," he told United Press International.

Cramer's team, which included robotics engineers, computer scientists, occupational therapists and medical professionals, took a year to design, build and test HOWARD before turning it over to seven women and six men with arm/hard deficits from stroke.

Cramer said he isn't the first to describe or even develop robotic devices for treating patients with stroke-caused deficits but noted his Irvine team has the most advanced hand device. He said shoulder and leg devices are already being sold.

His robotic arm is reminiscent of machines called Waldoes, used in the nuclear industry and named after a device featured in a 1942 novella by science fiction legend Robert Heinlein.

"Robots can consistently and precisely perform the same task without getting tired, record and adjust to the patient's responses, and provide feedback and virtual reality games that keep people interested and motivated," Cramer said.

The 13 participants in the pilot study with HOWARD averaged 63 years of age. More than three months after a stroke, each patient had moderate weakness and reduced function of the right hand, although the affected hand was neither totally paralyzed nor unable to feel.

Each patient received 15 two-hour therapy sessions, spread over three weeks, designed to improve their ability to grasp and release objects.

"The therapy isn't passive; the brain has to jumpstart the program and initiate the motor command," Cramer said. "But if the hand is weak and can only budge one-tenth of an inch, the robot helps to complete the task so the brain relearns what it's like to make the full movement."

At the end of three weeks all patients had improved in their ability to grasp and release objects. Their average score on the Action Research Arm Test improved 4.2 points, going from 33.5 to 37.3 points. The test measures, on a scale from 0 to 57, the ability to perform such real-world tasks as grasping a block, gripping a drinking glass, pinching to pick up a small marble or ball bearing, and placing a hand on the head. "An increase of 4 points or more on this test is considered clinically meaningful," Cramer said.

He said he envisions robots used at home while a therapist monitors their use at a distance, a process called tele-rehabilitation. "With the robot, a therapist could theoretically run 10 therapy sessions at once, or use a webcam to provide therapy from a distance at home," he said.

"While the numbers of patients in this study are small, it appears to show a proof of concept," said Dan Lackland, professor of epidemiology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. "I think that this device or ones that will follow it will help a lot more people than were included in the study."

Cramer selected patients with a moderate amount of loss of motion in his study. However, Lackland said that, in the real world, patients who lost only a little ability will seek to use devices like HOWARD to complete their recovery from a stroke, and people severely handicapped by a stroke will seek to some even a minimal gain which, for them, could be significant as far as quality of life is concerned.

Lackland said the progress made in the pilot study "is significant enough for researchers to proceed in fine-tuning the device and extending its use."

www.spacedaily.com/reports/Robotic_Arm_ ... s_999.html
 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070208172927.htm


Source: University of Michigan
Date: February 9, 2007
More on: Artificial Intelligence, Disability, Today's Healthcare, Robotics Research, Robotics, Stroke

Robotic Exoskeleton Replaces Muscle Work
Science Daily — A robotic exoskeleton controlled by the wearer's own nervous system could help users regain limb function, which is encouraging news for people with partial nervous system impairment, say University of Michigan researchers.


In the U-M device, electrodes were attached to the wearer's leg and those electrical signals received from the brain were translated into movement by the exoskeleton. (Image courtesy of University of Michigan) Ads by Google Advertise on this site

The ankle exoskeleton developed at U-M was worn by healthy subjects to measure how the device affected ankle function. The U-M team has no plans to build a commercial exoskeleton, but their results suggest promising applications for rehabilitation and physical therapy, and a similar approach could be used by other groups who do build such technology.

"This could benefit stroke patients or patients with incomplete injuries of the spinal cord," said Daniel Ferris, associate professor in movement science at U-M. "For patients that can walk slowly, a brace like this may help them walk faster and more effectively."

Ferris and former U-M doctoral student Keith Gordon, who is now a post-doctoral fellow at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, showed that the wearer of the U-M ankle exoskeleton could learn how to walk with the exoskeleton in about 30 minutes. Additionally, the wearer's nervous system retained the ability to control the exoskeleton three days later.

Electrical signals sent by the brain to our muscles tell them how to move. In people with spinal injuries or some neurological disorders, those electrical signals don't arrive full strength and are uncoordinated. In addition, patients are less able to keep track of exactly where and how their muscles move, which makes re-learning movement difficult.

Typically, robotic rehabilitative devices are worn by patients so that the limb is moved by the brace, which receives its instructions from a computer. Such devices use repetition to help force a movement pattern.

The U-M robotic exoskeleton works the opposite of these rehabilitation aids. In the U-M device, electrodes were attached to the wearer's leg and those electrical signals received from the brain were translated into movement by the exoskeleton.

"The (artificial) muscles are pneumatic. When the computer gets the electrical signal from the (wearer's) muscle, it increases the air pressure into the artificial muscle on the brace," Ferris said. "Essentially the artificial muscle contracts with the person's muscle."

Initially the wearer's gait was disrupted because the mechanical power added by the exoskeleton made the muscle stronger. However, in a relatively short time, the wearers adapted to the new strength and used their muscles less because the exoskeleton was doing more of the work. Their gait normalized after about 30 minutes.

The next step is to test the device on patients with impaired muscle function, Ferris said.

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of Michigan.
 
Could also be useful for those visiting Earth from low gravity environments.OK just astro/cosmonauts at the moment! Maybe a step towards the Starship Troopers suit.

Robot suit for rent in Japan to help people walk
http://www.physorg.com/printnews.php?newsid=142595007

Robotic suits named HAL, or "hybrid assistive limb," are demonstrated during a press conference at the headquarters of Cyberdyne, a new company in Tsukuba, outside Tokyo, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008. HAL, that reads brain signals and helps people with mobility problems, will be available to rent in Japan for US$2,200 for both legs and $1,500 for a one leg a month starting Friday -- an invention that may have far-reaching benefits for the disabled and elderly. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)
Click here to enlarge image


(AP) -- A robotic suit that reads brain signals and helps people with mobility problems will be available to rent in Japan for $2,200 a month starting Friday - an invention that may have far-reaching benefits for the disabled and elderly.


HAL - short for "hybrid assistive limb" - is a computerized suit with sensors that read brain signals directing limb movement through the skin.

The 22-pound battery-operated computer system is belted to the waist. It captures the brain signals and relays them to mechanical leg braces strapped to the thighs and knees, which then provide robotic assistance to people as they walk.

Cyberdyne, a new company in Tsukuba outside Tokyo, will mass-produce HAL. Two people demonstrated the suits at the company's headquarters on Tuesday.

A demonstration video also showed a partially paralyzed person getting up from a chair and walking slowly wearing the HAL suit.

"We are ready to present this to the world," said Yoshiyuki Sankai, a University of Tsukuba professor who designed HAL.

Sankai, who has worked on robot suits since 1992 and is also Cyberdyne's chief executive, said a full device that covers the entire body is also being designed, though it is unclear when it will be available commercially.

HAL comes in three sizes - small, medium and large - and also has a one-leg version for a 150,000 yen, or $1,500, monthly rental fee.

Noel Sharkey is a robotics expert not affiliated with the technology. The professor at the University of Sheffield in the U.K. said HAL will have wide-ranging benefits for the elderly others with movement disabilities.

"HAL can only lead to extending the abilities of the elderly and keep them out of care for longer," Sharkey said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Cyberdyne said its policy is not to reveal how much it costs to manufacture the device. It is unclear when HAL will go on sale to the public or what the price tag will be.

Robotics technology is common in manufacturing sectors, but product liability concerns restrict its widespread use in everyday life. Sankai said the HAL technology is devoted to social welfare purposes only, adding he has refused requests from military officials to share it.

Some European nations have already expressed interest and HAL may soon be on the market there, but U.S. sales are still undecided, Sankai said.

The University of California, Berkeley, and other researchers around the world are working on similar robotic suits that increase mobility.
 
Japan researchers unveil robot suit for farmers
http://www.physorg.com/print150697278.html

Japanese researchers on Friday unveiled a robot suit, seen here in action, designed to help reduce the heavy burden of harvesting as the nation\'s farm industry faces an ageing, shrinking workforce.


Japanese researchers on Friday unveiled a robot suit designed to help reduce the heavy burden of harvesting as the nation's farm industry faces an ageing, shrinking workforce.

Researchers at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology demonstrated a prototype wearable assistance machine equipped with eight motors and 16 sensors.

The 25-kilogramme (55-pound) device is designed to assist elderly farmers who need support for their leg muscles and joints when they keep a crouching position or lift their arms high.

In a demonstration, a person wearing the suit pulled radishes from the ground and picked oranges from high branches like a robot.

The researchers said they were looking to commercial use of the suit in two to three years at an initial price ranging from 500,000 yen to one million yen (about 5,000 to 10,000 dollars).

"Human robotic technology is being applied to various industries but it has great potential in the agricultural industry, in which people have to bear a heavy burden," said professor Shigeki Toyama.

"That's especially obvious in Japan, where the industry is rapidly ageing and its population is shrinking," he said.

He expected robotics would increasingly be put to use in farming in Japan and smaller European countries, where there is not enough space for large-scale agriculture and manual labour is costly.

Japan has been developing robots to serve in a growing number of jobs including office receptionists and security guards.
 
Vid & images at link.

The real 'Iron Man' exoskeleton does the work of two to three soldiers (w/ Video)
http://www.physorg.com/news204989352.html
September 29th, 2010 in Technology / Engineering


(PhysOrg.com) -- A new version of what some refer to as the "Iron Man" suit was unveiled Monday by Raytheon at the company's research facility in Salt Lake City.

The Exoskeleton, also known as XOS 2, was developed for military use, both in and out of direct battle, with an enhanced design that is more resistant to environmental factors. At 95-kilograms, XOS 2 was created to be stronger, faster and lighter than it's 88-kilogram predecessor, XOS 1, while using 50 percent less power and allowing more fluid movement with the use of flexible hoses as opposed to hard, hydraulic pipes for greater efficiency for soldiers wearing the suit.

The upgrade was primarily intended to reduce strain-causing injuries, particularly orthopedic, caused by repetitive heavy lifting and exertion. One XOS 2 suit is the equivalent of two or three soldiers which allows military personnel to be reassigned to more important tasks.

Built from a combination of structures, sensors, actuators and controllers while pressured by high pressure hydraulics, the suit allows wearers to lift 200 pounds with ease, repetitively and without injury or tiring. The key to making the XOS 2 practical to the military is the reduction of power consumption. Because developers thought Lithium-ion batteries might be a danger to the wearer in close range, XOS 2 uses an internal combustion engine with electrical systems run by a wire that's tethered to the XOS 2 power source.

Though even with the many improvements, the biggest limitation is the exoskeleton's range due to the tethered cables. Engineers continue to examine the internal combustion engine and the impact of the high pressure hydraulics on power consumption. Though they have no plans to develop a better internal combustion engine, they will continue to optimize the use of high-pressure hydraulic fluid.

The real 'Iron Man' Exoskeleton does the work of two to three soldiers (w/ Video)

Enlarge

The real 'Iron Man' Exoskeleton does the work of two to three soldiers (w/ Video)

Enlarge

Tentatively planned for 2015 military use, XOS 2 will be tethered, to be followed by an untethered version three to five years later. The exoskeleton has been under development since 2000.
 
imo its simply being used to iron out the bugs so it can be adapted to walking tanks,similar to the ones in avatar
 
Looks good.

Wearable muscle suit makes heavy lifting a cinch
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... cinch.html
23 April 2012 by Rob Gilhooly, Tokyo
Magazine issue 2861.

A lightweight exoskeleton will allow the elderly to move around more easily. New Scientist heads to a Japanese laboratory to try it on for size

I'M IN a lab in downtown Tokyo full of grinning engineering students, who are peering past PC monitors and half-completed gadgets to watch me try and lift 40 kilograms of rice. No mean feat, but luckily I am about to be given a power boost.

I shuffle between some boxes and squat down as instructed by research student Hideyuki Umehara, aware of the clutter around me as I fight for floor space with the lower half of a mannequin, an electric wheelchair and an eerily realistic robotic head. Umehara places the bag of rice onto my outstretched arms. Then he presses a switch on the rucksack-like jacket I'm wearing, my hips are propelled forward and gradually my legs straighten until I'm completely upright.

It takes a second to register, but the 40 kg of rice I just picked up like a human forklift truck suddenly seem as light as a feather. Thanks to the "muscle suit" Umehara slipped onto my back prior to the exercise, I feel completely empowered. Fixed at the hips and shoulders by a padded waistband and straps, and extending part-way down the side of my legs, the exoskeleton has an A-shaped aluminium frame and sleeves that rotate freely at elbow and shoulder joints.

It weighs 9.2 kg, but the burst of air that Umehara injected into four artificial muscles attached on the back of the frame make both jacket and rice feel virtually weightless.

The muscle suit is one of a series of cybernetic exoskeletons developed by Hiroshi Kobayashi's team at the Tokyo University of Science in Japan. Scheduled for commercial release early next year, the wearable robot takes two forms: one augmenting the arms and back that is aimed at areas of commerce where heavy lifting is required. The other, a lighter, 5 kg version, will target the nursing industry to assist in lifting people in and out of bed, for example.

Kobayashi's muscle suit is the latest in a long line of exoskeletons dating back to General Electric's 1965 "man amplifier", the Hardiman. In the intervening years there have been a number of attempts to build devices that augment performance for soldiers, or to help disabled people. Some successful creations, such as the HULC by Ekso Bionics and Raytheon's XOS2, are still in development for the military.

Yet many exoskeleton projects hit problems early on that delayed or prevented commercial release. Most relate to the inability to generate sufficient power to safely drive the multiple motors required to mobilise the often-hefty suits.

Kobayashi believes his suit will be different. It doesn't have heavy electric actuators and hydraulics, but instead comes with PAMs - pneumatic artificial muscles. These lightweight, mesh-encased rubber bladders are designed to contract when pressurised air is pumped in. The PAMs give up to 30 kg of instant support or more, depending on how far the weight is away from the body. "The power-to-weight ratio is 400 times greater than motor-driven suits," says Kobayashi, who adds that unlike motors, PAMs are unaffected by water and dirt. A regulator controls the compressed air output based on a signal given by a microprocessor, which in turn communicates with an acceleration sensor in the frame that detects and responds to movement.

As well as its high power-to-weight ratio, the muscle suit's huge advantage, Kobayashi says, are its simple controls, which are largely preprogrammed to mimic natural human movements. Walking or lifting are triggered via the jacket's sensor, which responds to both simple voice commands, such as "start or "stop", and the body's acceleration. If the wearer is standing upright or moving more slowly than the preset acceleration threshold then the device will not move. A simple dial can control the suit's speed. The exoskeleton will be available to rent from ¥15,000 (£115) per month, although Japan's health insurance will cover 90 per cent of the charge in many cases.

"Years ago I was attracted by cool-looking robots, but basically they were of little use to society," Kobayashi said from his office, which is decorated with achievement awards and houses the prototype for his best-known creation, Saya the humanoid robot teacher. "I think our muscle suit is the only practically usable tool worldwide."

In Japan there has been a surge in R&D into exoskeletons, largely because of the country's rapidly ageing population: more than 30 per cent may be over 65 by 2025. In a recent science and technology white paper the government emphasised the need for robotic devices in a society where increasingly "the elderly will be caring for the elderly".

Later that day, I get the chance to try out the simpler version of the suit, which has no metal sleeves to support the arm. It is noticeably lighter, though the final product, says Umehara, will be lighter still, weighing around 4 kg. "I always thought this was part of fiction," he says, "but now, it's just a step away."

Let the muscle suit take the strain
Exoskeletons won't just help you lift heavy stuff, you'll also be able to hold it for longer. Hiroshi Kobayashi's team at the Tokyo University of Science, Japan, is measuring muscle fatigue using near-infrared spectroscopy, to gauge the benefits of their "muscle suit". Results show that continuous muscle use without the exoskeleton produces an increase in oxygenated haemoglobin or "oxy" and a decrease in deoxygenated haemoglobin or "doxy", which indicates muscle fatigue. The difference between oxy and doxy when using the muscle suit was negligible, Kobayashi said. The team expect to present their work at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems to be held in Portugal, in October.
 
I believe they're useful in throwing alien queens from your spaceship, too.
 
Going on towards the Starship Troopers suit. Is HAL a good name though?

.
Japan to field test rehabilitation robots
February 12th, 2013 in Electronics / Robotics

(Phys.org)—Ten hospitals in Japan are set to begin testing the use of a robot known as "Robot Suit HAL" starting next month. The purpose of the test will be to determine whether use of the robot is beneficial to patients needing physical therapy to regain normal use of their legs.

When people experience nerve or muscle damage to their lower backs or legs due to illness, stroke or injury, the normal course of treatment involves undergoing physical therapy. Doing so causes the body to slowly repair the damage that has been done. In order for it to work however, the parts of the body that work properly have to coax the parts that do not into action, a laborious and quite often painful process. For this reason, professional physical therapists assist patients with the process to ensure that all of the body parts are exercised and to offer emotional support. But such experts can only help so much, and for that reason, robots have been developed to help. The thinking is that because they are sensor based and lack emotional involvement in the process, robots are likely to do a better job.

The Robot Suit HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) has been designed and built by Cyberdyne Inc. with assistance from researchers around the country. It's described by its makers as a cyborg-type robot meant to supplement human muscles or to assist in their rehabilitation. Its part handrail, part sensor and part hydraulically controlled machinery. A patient stands between two handrails, holding on, while sensors are affixed to the skin of the legs. The sensors pick up nerve signals which are sent to an onboard computer.

Those signals are then converted to action by small motors and power units that cause the muscle to be worked in the same way it would be were the person's body able to move it on their own. The end result is a direct connection between nerve signals and movement, which the researchers believe, will result in faster and perhaps better recovery for the patient.

Initial testing will involve 30 volunteer patients. Representatives for Cyberdyne have also announced that the company is in the process of making arrangements for testing the robot in hospitals in Europe as well.
© 2013 Phys.org

"Japan to field test rehabilitation robots." February 12th, 2013. http://phys.org/news/2013-02-japan-field-robots.html
 
ramonmercado said:
Going on towards the Starship Troopers suit. Is HAL a good name though?

...Or indeed, Cyberdyne...

Watch the dramatised documentary 'The Terminator' to find out how their products worked out. 8)
 
Robotic suit gives shipyard workers super strength

04 August 2014 by Hal Hodson
Magazine issue 2980. Subscribe and save

Workers building the world’s biggest ships could soon don robotic exoskeletons to lug around 100-kilogram hunks of metal as if they’re nothing

AT A sprawling shipyard in South Korea, workers dressed in wearable robotics were hefting large hunks of metal, pipes and other objects as if they were nothing.

It was all part of a test last year by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, at their facility in Okpo-dong. The company, one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, wants to take production to the next level by outfitting staff with robot exoskeletons that give them superhuman strength.

Gilwhoan Chu, the lead engineer for the firm's research and development arm, says the pilot showed that the exoskeleton does help workers perform their tasks. His team is working to improve the prototypes so that they can go into regular use in the shipyard, where robots already run a large portion of a hugely complex assembly system.

The exoskeleton fits anyone between 160 and 185 centimetres tall. Workers do not feel the weight of its 28-kilogram frame of carbon, aluminium alloy and steel, as the suit supports itself and is engineered to follow the wearer's movements. With a 3-hour battery life, the exoskeleton allows users to walk at a normal pace and, in its prototype form, it can lift objects with a mass of up to 30 kilograms.

To don the exoskeleton, workers start by strapping their feet on to foot pads at the base of the robot. Padded straps at the thigh, waist and across the chest connect the user to the suit, allowing the robot to move with their bodies as it bears loads for them. A system of hydraulic joints and electric motors running up the outside of the legs links to a backpack, which powers and controls the rig. ...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... -d2U_ldVsk
 
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