While we're still a ways away from a proper Aliens-esque Power Loader, our enhanced exo-suit future is already upon us. The HAL (that's Hybrid Assistive Limb, not the murderous space AI) from medical device manufacturer, Cyberdyne Inc., has already b...
Safety equipment is evolving day by day, and it’s a very exciting time to be a part of it. Recently, we’ve seen a myriad of safety helmets especially, with the Falcon welding helmet or the Unit modular safety helmet. And now, Cyberdyne has taken a giant leap in safety equipment with the release of HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb). HAL is the World‘s first cyborg- type robot, by which a wearer‘s bodily functions can be improved, supported and enhanced. Essentially, HAL is a smart exoskeleton, assisting a physically challenged person to move and enabling them to exert more significant motor energy than usual.
As mentioned previously, Hal reacts to the user’s movement – by transmitting neural signals throughout the body to walk, each muscle can receive signals from the brain, Hal then reads these signals (bio-electric signals) and deciphers which sorts of motions the user intends to execute. HAL then assists the user with those actions as they intend and exert a more considerable power than they can ordinarily exert. Not just this, HAL can understand feedback from the brain, recognizing if a movement needs more help or more flexibility. The design and material choice for the hardware of HAL are visually appealing and inviting as opposed to other exoskeleton design choices. The only downfall here is the neon yellow fabric choices – the idea and execution of the product are futuristic and eye-catching alone, there is no need to draw attention away from the gorgeously sculpted surface work of HAL with such bright colors.
While climbing mountains and helping disabled tourists are fine pursuits, Cyberdyne's HAL robot suit has found an even nobler occupation: helping patients rehabilitate from debilitating nerve and muscle illnesses. According to The Asahi Shimbun, ten hospitals in Japan will start the first clinical trials of the lower-body suit version we saw last year, designed expressly for use by health care professionals. It works by detecting weak bio-electrical signals from patients' muscles which drive small motors and power units, and will be tested on 30 adults to see if it can help them re-learn to walk. Cyberdyne's wares will be trialed in European hospitals too -- which would be a lot of good service for a company with such an evilmoniker.
If you are a science fiction fan odds are you have watched the Stanley Kubrick classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Easily the most memorable character in that movie wasn't a person, rather it was the...
Remember HAL 9000 from Space Odyssey? No? Well, let me jog your memory. HAL 9000 was the malfunctioning AI that decided to murder a crew of astronauts who were planning to disconnect it. That’s where the fun begins (for the viewers, I mean, and not for the astronauts.) HAL was voted as one of the greatest movie villains of all time, and now you can actually own it–well, a replica of it–once it’s back in stock on ThinkGeek.
The retailer boasts that their $500 ‘life-size’ replica is the most accurate replica of the HAL 9000 ever made, and understandably so: it was built using 1967 blueprints as a guide, and they were even able to get the original image files for the labels. Aside from looking the part, the replica is able to speak 15 different phrases as a response to voice and IR remotes.
This HAL 9000 replica doesn’t cheap, but nothing good ever does, right?
It was a little over a year ago that ThinkGeek gave folks a chance to add a bit of 2001 to their home with the IRIS 9000 iPhone dock, but it's really gone the extra mile this year. The retailer has today announced its new HAL 9000 Life-Size Replica, a $500 device that's said to be built using the original 1967 blueprints and image files. What's more, while it isn't exactly "fully functional," it is able to respond to voice commands and most IR remotes with a variety of suitably unsettling phrases (yes, including a rendition of "Daisy Bell"). The downside is that it will set you back considerably more than the $60 of its smaller counterpart -- ThinkGeek is asking a full $500 for this conversation starter, each of which is "hand-assembled to make sure they are perfect." Would-be purchasers can get a taste of what's in store in the video after the break.
While we're still a ways away from a proper Aliens-esque Power Loader, our enhanced exo-suit future is already upon us. The HAL (that's Hybrid Assistive Limb, not the murderous space AI) from medical device manufacturer, Cyberdyne Inc., has already b...
