6 ms·

Hardiman I Exoskeleton

171 points by vmorgulis 10y ago

orjan 10y ago
That "Walking Truck" is very similar to Big Dog, at least in appearance.
mooneater 10y ago
Why would they design it such that the human hand goes into the mechanized hand? Because then if something causes failure, say by lifting something too heavy, the human hand is also injured. I would want to see a design that keeps the human operator safe. Same comment on many existing exoskeleton designs.
- aaronbrethorst 10y ago
  à la the power loader in Aliens: http://orig14.deviantart.net/5716/f/2009/065/0/c/aliens__power_loader_by_pynion.jpg http://orig14.deviantart.net/5716/f/2009/065/0/c/aliens__pow...
- mkoryak 10y ago
  probably because they wanted to build a system with no learning curve.
- woodman 10y ago
  The diagrams show that the human hand ends up in the "wrist" of the robotic arm. If that is too close for comfort then you could go with a fictitious MSDF Type 303 from gits [0]. But I'd rather have my arm in the load bearing, and therefor strengthened, robotic arm - for both safety and spacial awareness sake. [0] http://ghostintheshell.wikia.com/wiki/Armored_Suit http://ghostintheshell.wikia.com/wiki/Armored_Suit
- stickfigure 10y ago
  I was going to write pretty much the same thing. How comfortable would any of us be reaching our arms deep into a large piece of operating hydraulic machinery? It would take only a small bug to contort your arm into a position that your bones won't allow, and anything capable of lifting 1.5 tonnes can easily rip your arm off. I wouldn't want to test drive v1.0 of the aliens power loader. Or any other version that ends with ".0"
fernly 10y ago
Made me think of Heinlein's story "Waldo" [1] which featured mechanical manipulators controlled by motions of the operator's hand and fingers. I thought, oho, this is where Heinlein got the idea! But no! "Waldo" was published in 1942. Perhaps inspiration ran the other way. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldo_(short_story) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldo_(short_story)
- shrikant 10y ago
  Oooh, interesting. There's an episode of the TV show Black Mirror called "The Waldo Moment", which features an arrogant animated puppet that's entirely controlled by the motions of the operator's hand and fingers. I reckon this bit was clearly a reference to the Heinlein short story.
- grkvlt 10y ago
  Ah, I had always assumed Waldo was an acronym or initialism of some kind; checking wikipedia shows they are named after the Heinlein story you mention!
- hollander 10y ago
  Is WALL-E named after him? I know that's an acronym for "Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class", but I bet it's no coincidence.
gene-h 10y ago
Part of the problem was(and still is) that it didn't have very many good use cases. For the problem of moving heavy stuff around a forklifts, cranes, and carts performed much better. Not to mention the potential for serious injury to the user if they make a mistake or fall over.
- CaptSpify 10y ago
  I think the idea is bigger than the implementation though: With enough research it could be scaled down in size and price enough to be something you keep in your closet. If everyone had these, tasks like moving furniture, or other large loads would be much easier for the average person.
- ibnroberttuta 10y ago
  An interesting thing to note WRT serious applications for exoskeletons is that they arguably offer greater potential as safety devices in the workplaces, essentially as a means to stop workers from over straining themselves, and also prevent repeated strain injuries. I think realistically, heavy stuff will always be relegated to heavy machines. It'd be impractical in many cases to do otherwise. But to say that exoskeletons lack applications is a bit foolhardy (preventing workplace injury is a huge field waiting to be disrupted, for example). Physical augmentation (via robotics) shouldn't just mean improving the physical condition, but also maintaining and promoting a healthy physical condition. This isn't something that is very well understood in the marketplace (both in the 60's, but also today). The biggest barrier for exoskeletons are still the exoskeletons themselves. I believe that until this idea is understood and reflected in the designs and implementation of exoskeletons, no progress will be made (in the field, and the market). Hopefully, this will soon change. Disclosure: Work in the field (although currently for physically disabled patients, and not announced in the public domain).
  - rebootthesystem 10y ago
    Over the last 9 months I have gained a new perspective on the matter of lifting heavy things. I decided to take weight lifting seriously, hired a coach and went for it. I am now dead-lifting 200 lbs (90 Kg) and squatting the same. If you saw me walking down yhe street you'd have no idea. By the end of the year I should be at 315 for the deadlift. Before doing this I never imagined someone could look "normal" and move this much weight. I thought this was the domain of guys with huge muscles. Anyhow, a long way to say that workplace injury could probably be averted with training.
ekianjo 10y ago
Wait, was the Aliens' exoskeleton used by Ripley and other Marines based on that prototype ? It looks very similar in some of the concept art. See: http://www.mwctoys.com/images/review_loader_1.jpg http://www.mwctoys.com/images/review_loader_1.jpg
kensai 10y ago
Would definitely not comb my hair or scratch my back with that thing... :p
- teddyh 10y ago
  Or pick your nose: http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-03-14 http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-03-14
  - martin-adams 10y ago
    That made me laugh
richforrester 10y ago
Looking at this, the one thing I see is a person "fighting" a machine that's encapsulating them. If we're going to interpret and strengthen moves we make, it might be smarter and safer to leave the interpretation of movement out of the suit. So wear a light, easy-to change into/out of suit with sensors, that controls a machine in front of you. Also saves space as you won't have to make space for a pesky, fleshy, squishy human. (Just thinking out loud here)
- ibnroberttuta 10y ago
  You can read a news release from MIT about such an endeavor here: http://news.mit.edu/2015/bipedal-robot-with-human-reflexes-0811 http://news.mit.edu/2015/bipedal-robot-with-human-reflexes-0... The limiting factor remains not the human, so much as the hardware and software design bottlenecks.
- nsxwolf 10y ago
  This is definitely an application for VR. You are rigged up in a room somewhere, and you become a gigantic robot building a ship or a bridge or something elsewhere.
Sami_Lehtinen 10y ago
[an error occurred while processing this directive] - Server getting overloaded? - A backup copy: https://archive.is/HhXbI https://archive.is/HhXbI
robschia 10y ago
The HN hug of death strikes again
chx 10y ago
Exoskeletons will be huge, huge, huge as the baby boomer generation get older and more frail. This is why Japan is already far ahead in this.
YeGoblynQueenne 10y ago
I see your powered exoskeleton, and raise you a walking truck: http://www.educatedearth.net/video.php?id=5000 http://www.educatedearth.net/video.php?id=5000
shostack 10y ago
All I can think of when seeing this is that the animated gif looks exactly like a Power Fist from Warhammer 40k, and that the rest of this looks like some of the original e-frames from Exo-Squad when they show the scenes of how e-frames first originated. Powered body suits can't come fast enough in my opinion. Outside of war, there are just so many uses for enhanced strength and the sheer flexibility something like that allows for tools, dexterity, working with electrical or extreme temperatures, etc.
- Aelinsaar 10y ago
  I can wait for the kinks to be worked out, so that a software error doesn't result in my arm being yanked out of its socket.
stcredzero 10y ago
Years before Sarcos corporation got bought, they had working haptic whole-arm interfaces attached to outsized hydraulic arms. There used to be Real video format files on their site of things like a teleoperated giant arm casually holding an anvil like it was a beer mug. There was webpage of historical haptics research up somewhere. They've had research hardware since the 70's. I remember one discussion at the Houston hackerspace, where such devices were falsely "debunked" based on bandwidth/processing requirements. {facepalm}

171 points by vmorgulis 10y ago

orjan 10y ago

That "Walking Truck" is very similar to Big Dog, at least in appearance.

Why would they design it such that the human hand goes into the mechanized hand? Because then if something causes failure, say by lifting something too heavy, the human hand is also injured. I would want to see a design that keeps the human operator safe. Same comment on many existing exoskeleton designs.

aaronbrethorst 10y ago
à la the power loader in Aliens: http://orig14.deviantart.net/5716/f/2009/065/0/c/aliens__power_loader_by_pynion.jpg http://orig14.deviantart.net/5716/f/2009/065/0/c/aliens__pow...
mkoryak 10y ago
probably because they wanted to build a system with no learning curve.
woodman 10y ago
The diagrams show that the human hand ends up in the "wrist" of the robotic arm. If that is too close for comfort then you could go with a fictitious MSDF Type 303 from gits [0]. But I'd rather have my arm in the load bearing, and therefor strengthened, robotic arm - for both safety and spacial awareness sake. [0] http://ghostintheshell.wikia.com/wiki/Armored_Suit http://ghostintheshell.wikia.com/wiki/Armored_Suit
stickfigure 10y ago
I was going to write pretty much the same thing. How comfortable would any of us be reaching our arms deep into a large piece of operating hydraulic machinery? It would take only a small bug to contort your arm into a position that your bones won't allow, and anything capable of lifting 1.5 tonnes can easily rip your arm off. I wouldn't want to test drive v1.0 of the aliens power loader. Or any other version that ends with ".0"

fernly 10y ago

Made me think of Heinlein's story "Waldo" [1] which featured mechanical manipulators controlled by motions of the operator's hand and fingers. I thought, oho, this is where Heinlein got the idea! But no! "Waldo" was published in 1942. Perhaps inspiration ran the other way. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldo_(short_story) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldo_(short_story)

shrikant 10y ago
Oooh, interesting. There's an episode of the TV show Black Mirror called "The Waldo Moment", which features an arrogant animated puppet that's entirely controlled by the motions of the operator's hand and fingers. I reckon this bit was clearly a reference to the Heinlein short story.
grkvlt 10y ago
Ah, I had always assumed Waldo was an acronym or initialism of some kind; checking wikipedia shows they are named after the Heinlein story you mention!
hollander 10y ago
Is WALL-E named after him? I know that's an acronym for "Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class", but I bet it's no coincidence.

gene-h 10y ago

Part of the problem was(and still is) that it didn't have very many good use cases. For the problem of moving heavy stuff around a forklifts, cranes, and carts performed much better. Not to mention the potential for serious injury to the user if they make a mistake or fall over.

CaptSpify 10y ago
I think the idea is bigger than the implementation though: With enough research it could be scaled down in size and price enough to be something you keep in your closet. If everyone had these, tasks like moving furniture, or other large loads would be much easier for the average person.
ibnroberttuta 10y ago
An interesting thing to note WRT serious applications for exoskeletons is that they arguably offer greater potential as safety devices in the workplaces, essentially as a means to stop workers from over straining themselves, and also prevent repeated strain injuries. I think realistically, heavy stuff will always be relegated to heavy machines. It'd be impractical in many cases to do otherwise. But to say that exoskeletons lack applications is a bit foolhardy (preventing workplace injury is a huge field waiting to be disrupted, for example). Physical augmentation (via robotics) shouldn't just mean improving the physical condition, but also maintaining and promoting a healthy physical condition. This isn't something that is very well understood in the marketplace (both in the 60's, but also today). The biggest barrier for exoskeletons are still the exoskeletons themselves. I believe that until this idea is understood and reflected in the designs and implementation of exoskeletons, no progress will be made (in the field, and the market). Hopefully, this will soon change. Disclosure: Work in the field (although currently for physically disabled patients, and not announced in the public domain).
- rebootthesystem 10y ago
  Over the last 9 months I have gained a new perspective on the matter of lifting heavy things. I decided to take weight lifting seriously, hired a coach and went for it. I am now dead-lifting 200 lbs (90 Kg) and squatting the same. If you saw me walking down yhe street you'd have no idea. By the end of the year I should be at 315 for the deadlift. Before doing this I never imagined someone could look "normal" and move this much weight. I thought this was the domain of guys with huge muscles. Anyhow, a long way to say that workplace injury could probably be averted with training.

ekianjo 10y ago

Wait, was the Aliens' exoskeleton used by Ripley and other Marines based on that prototype ? It looks very similar in some of the concept art. See: http://www.mwctoys.com/images/review_loader_1.jpg http://www.mwctoys.com/images/review_loader_1.jpg

kensai 10y ago

Would definitely not comb my hair or scratch my back with that thing... :p

teddyh 10y ago
Or pick your nose: http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-03-14 http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-03-14
- martin-adams 10y ago
  That made me laugh

richforrester 10y ago

Looking at this, the one thing I see is a person "fighting" a machine that's encapsulating them. If we're going to interpret and strengthen moves we make, it might be smarter and safer to leave the interpretation of movement out of the suit. So wear a light, easy-to change into/out of suit with sensors, that controls a machine in front of you. Also saves space as you won't have to make space for a pesky, fleshy, squishy human. (Just thinking out loud here)

ibnroberttuta 10y ago
You can read a news release from MIT about such an endeavor here: http://news.mit.edu/2015/bipedal-robot-with-human-reflexes-0811 http://news.mit.edu/2015/bipedal-robot-with-human-reflexes-0... The limiting factor remains not the human, so much as the hardware and software design bottlenecks.
nsxwolf 10y ago
This is definitely an application for VR. You are rigged up in a room somewhere, and you become a gigantic robot building a ship or a bridge or something elsewhere.

Sami_Lehtinen 10y ago

[an error occurred while processing this directive] - Server getting overloaded? - A backup copy: https://archive.is/HhXbI https://archive.is/HhXbI

robschia 10y ago

The HN hug of death strikes again

chx 10y ago

Exoskeletons will be huge, huge, huge as the baby boomer generation get older and more frail. This is why Japan is already far ahead in this.

YeGoblynQueenne 10y ago

I see your powered exoskeleton, and raise you a walking truck: http://www.educatedearth.net/video.php?id=5000 http://www.educatedearth.net/video.php?id=5000

shostack 10y ago

All I can think of when seeing this is that the animated gif looks exactly like a Power Fist from Warhammer 40k, and that the rest of this looks like some of the original e-frames from Exo-Squad when they show the scenes of how e-frames first originated. Powered body suits can't come fast enough in my opinion. Outside of war, there are just so many uses for enhanced strength and the sheer flexibility something like that allows for tools, dexterity, working with electrical or extreme temperatures, etc.

Aelinsaar 10y ago
I can wait for the kinks to be worked out, so that a software error doesn't result in my arm being yanked out of its socket.

stcredzero 10y ago

Years before Sarcos corporation got bought, they had working haptic whole-arm interfaces attached to outsized hydraulic arms. There used to be Real video format files on their site of things like a teleoperated giant arm casually holding an anvil like it was a beer mug. There was webpage of historical haptics research up somewhere. They've had research hardware since the 70's. I remember one discussion at the Houston hackerspace, where such devices were falsely "debunked" based on bandwidth/processing requirements. {facepalm}