By Andrew Liszewski
Evan Ackerman, tech-blogger extraordinaire and Senior Editor of BotJunkie, was the first person in the United States to don Cyberdyne’s ‘Hybrid Assistive Limb’ or ‘HAL’ robotic exoskeleton suit. Or more specifically, just the pants. Using four sensors attached to his waist and his thighs the suit reads the signals being sent to Evan’s legs when he wants to walk, but its electronic muscles end up doing all the work for him. The suit is designed to help those who are unable to walk on their own, and as a result has 4 different strength levels. Because Evan is still able to walk they left it at level 1, but according to him it was still remarkably powerful even at the lowest setting.
So based on how my legs and feet feel right now after a week roaming the CES show floors, I think I’ll be adding a set of these to my blogging kit for next year.
[ BotJunkie – CES 2011: Cyberdyne Preview ] & [ IEEE Spectrum Automaton – Robot Suit HAL Demo at CES 2011 ]
Cyberdyne? Really? Some people really are trying to hasten the rise of Skynet.