the future is here: exo-skeletons

I’ve been sitting in front of this blank white “add a new post to your blog” field for a few minutes now. Pondering.

How should I possibly express how excited I am? How should I try to describe how awesome this news is to people like … me?

I guess I can’t. So I rather don’t even bother to try. Here’s the story, without any emotional humbug: this is a pictures of an exo-skeleton.

Here is another.

The idea of mechanical devices, enhancing or even transcending the human body has been widely used in science fiction literature and roleplaying games for decades, perhaps centuries (if someone happens to have too much free time, feel free to go through the drawings of Jules Verne).

Exo-skeletons have just become reality. We have progressed far enough to control mechanical devices with our mind using a BMI (brain-machine-interface) – Toyota recently designed a wheelchair that works this way. And the company Cyberdyne has released the HAL exo-skeleton:

The HAL exoskeleton, on the other hand, has robotic limbs that strap to your arms and legs — providing much fuller mobility than a wheelchair. The suit’s backpack contains a battery and computer controller. When a HAL-assisted person attempts to move, nerve signals are sent from the brain to the muscles, and very weak traces of these signals can be detected on the surface of the skin. The HAL exoskeleton identifies these signals using a sensor, and a signal is sent to the suit’s power unit telling the suit to move in synch with the wearer’s own limbs.

Awesome.

Check out the videos!

(via Fefe, thanks to HJ for the input)

UPDATE:
The guys at Cyberdyne seem to have humour … wikipedia tells us:

The Cyberdyne Systems Corporation is a fictional company depicted in The Terminator films, as well as various novels and comic books all taking place in the Terminator universe. They are responsible for the genesis of the supercomputer Skynet, the primary antagonist of the Terminator series, and its armies of machines.

And the name HAL probably alludes to HAL9000, the supercomputer from Arthur C. Clarke’s Space Odyssey.