Power Loader exoskeleton gives superhuman strength

(Credit: Activelink)

The Power Loader "dual-arm power amplification robot" uses 18 electromagnetic motors that let the wearer lift 220 pounds without blinking. It gets its name from the exoskeleton from "Aliens" ("Get away from her, you bitch!"), and even has force-feedback.

It's being developed by a Kyoto, Japan-based Panasonic subsidiary called Activelink, which say it doesn't expect to see it being used for things like disaster relief efforts until around 2015. At the moment it has an aluminum-alloy frame weighing around 500 pounds, so hopefully they can shrink it down a bit. Very cool, though. Check out the vid:

This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.

[Slick1of2]

OMG! I watched the video before reading the article and couldn't stop giggling how the thing resembles the power lifter in Aliens. It even has the blue belts like in the movie. Trippy.

[DarkHawke]

The weight of the thing doesn't matter so much. Part of the power loader design is augmented legs as well, so the unit carries its own weight, as it were. But yeah, need a lot of work before it's in general use. Serious geekgasm just the same!

[PiCASSiMO]

I dunno... this unit (in production) would probably been in the neighbourhood of $50,000 to $75,000.... and appears to be very slow and cumbersome. With probably 2-3 men at a minimum hourly salary of $10/hr you get get the same 200-lb lifting requirement than this exoskeleton. Perhaps in time, they will make it less bulkier and cost effective, but I think that it will take several decades for this to develop. But it's a good start, and hopefully refined to a point that it will help people not stress their bodies on heavy lifting jobs.

[dknox79]

Ok, I'll probably sound like the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons here, but you should have referenced Alien, not Aliens. (Let the ridicule begin)

[NervClaX]

The Power Loader wasn't in "Alien". It was in the sequel, "Aliens". NOW we can let the ridicule begin...starting with you.

[planblove]

the fact that this thing even exists now, as a prototype, is awesome in and of itself.

[dmarotta21]

its def. a cross between Aliens and Matrix Revolutions