Exoskeleton Helps You Pick Radishes
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Monday, 19 of January , 2009 at 1:57 am
Radish pickin’ is tirin’ work, boy howdy. Tirin’ enough that farmers in Japan are gettin’ a robot exoskeleton’ to help ‘em out:
The Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology has developed an agriculture robot suit designed specifically to help out with tough agricultural work like pulling radishes. The suit has eight motors fitted over the shoulders, elbows, back and knees to provide a power boost to the wearer. The current model weighs a hefty 25 kilograms, but developers hope to halve the weight and have it on the market in two years, retailing for between 500,000 and 1 million yen.
If they can manage to sell 100 suits, each one will cost only about $3300, which is a bargain compared to some of the other exoskeletons we’ve seen. There are no specs on how much exactly the suit will boost your strength, but picking radishes (which generally requires 30kg of lifting force) is made half as difficult, and other tasks that require holding your body in awkward positions (like pickin’ strawberries) can be completed with “virtually no exertion.”
$3300 for a robotic radish pickin’ exoskeleton? Sign me up.
[ Mainichi ] VIA [ Japanprobe ]
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Category: Cybernetics, Industrial
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