Robot Suit Enters Production

This sounds pretty cool. Almost too cool to be true:

When you want to move your body, your brain sends out an electric signal that is received by your muscles, which then contract, thus producing motion. This electric signal travels to the muscles via the body's nerves, generating a slight voltage of electricity on the surface of the skin. This is known as a bioelectric signal, and Robot Suit HAL detects them using the sensors placed around the wearer's body. Depending on the voltage running the surface of the skin, the computer inside Robot Suit HAL analyzes the signal and sets the appropriate motors in motion.

This unique method of operation means that a person can control Robot Suit HAL by his or her own will, even if he or she is unable to actually move. And as the suit detects the signal sent from the brain even before it gets to the muscle, it can move an instant before the muscle does.

a) They chose to name it Robot Suit HAL (as in HAL, from 2001: A Space Odyssey).
b) They chose to name their company Cyberdyne, Inc. (as in Cyberdyne from the Terminator movies.)

So I'm going to need a little more evidence before I'm convinced this isn't a joke.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 10, 2008
Category: Inventions | Technology

Comments

I'm with you kay - why is all this discussion about war? Yes there are humorous bits in there, which I greatly appreciate, but why is no one considering the implications for paralyzed people? Why immediately jump to death and destruction?
On a different note - HAL and Cyberdyne.....seriously?!?!? It's either fake or the people in charge have a fantastic sense of humor!

Posted by Jules in Connecticut on 09/11/08 at 08:59 AM

http://www.slusho.jp
http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/index.html

Does anyone know what ".jp" stands for? If Slusho.jp was a promo for Cloverfield maybe cyberdyne.jp is for the new terminator movie coming out...

Posted by Jules in Connecticut on 09/11/08 at 09:15 AM

Hey Nick, those big loaders from Aliens were real, not just a movie prop. They were created for exactly the purpose shown in th emovie; loading stuff into stuff. They were created by a Canadian company, I think, but tutrned out to be way to costly, so they only produced a handful of them which then got bought up by the movie studio... I may be missing details here and there.

Posted by kingmonkey in Athens, Ontario on 09/11/08 at 09:23 AM

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