from Hacker News

Robotic suit gives shipyard workers super strength

by ultimatedelman on 8/4/14, 8:23 PM with 49 comments

  • by anigbrowl on 8/4/14, 11:25 PM

    "At the time, most of the yards we toured were significantly more advanced in robotic welding than the US yards performing naval ship construction, and had been for a long time," Gene Mitchell, the retired US Navy officer who led the research told New Scientist.

    That's depressing. I don't know why many US industrial firms seem so slow to do their own training, but instead complain about a shortage of skilled workers. There's not much point in spending a lot of money training in some highly specialized area like heavy robotics if you don't know where the demand is.

  • by vonklaus on 8/5/14, 1:35 AM

    I think this is an amazing and inevitable outcome. However, sort of disappointed by the 60 kilo max. I feel like these suits need to be an ordwr of magnitude better than humans to be viable. There are certainly people who can lift 125lb objects. I understand that fatigue and uniformity factor in, but it will be great to see 300lb+ suits
  • by nwh on 8/5/14, 5:58 AM

    Hate to see what happens when a bug causes the wrong motors to fire and the thing breaks all of your bones. Be awesome to use one though all the same.
  • by beambot on 8/5/14, 2:10 AM

    Yeah... they had those in 1958:

    Iron Man: Ralph Mosher, an engineer working for General Electric in the 1950s, developed a robotic exoskeleton called Hardiman. The mechanical suit, consisting of powered arms and legs, could give him superhuman strength. Mosher subsequently made a simpler version that permitted him to sit in his chair and pick up refrigerators.

    http://www.hizook.com/blog/2010/09/07/telepresence-robots-ne...

  • by wooptoo on 8/5/14, 9:36 AM

    > it can lift objects with a mass of up to 30 kilograms.

    Shouldn't factory workers be able to do that anyway? Or even 60kg.

  • by thret on 8/4/14, 11:48 PM

    Let's be honest, if these things become commonplace in shipyards - we are all going to want one.
  • by dbg31415 on 8/5/14, 2:11 PM

    Soon we will be able to fight off the Aliens.
  • by ende on 8/5/14, 12:17 AM

    Why is this technology being wasted on shipyards when I could be using it to reenact scenes from Aliens and play rock em sock em cyborg in my backyard?