Robotic suit gives shipyard workers super strength

[anigbrowl]

"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.

[hudibras]

US Navy personnel who tour the newest generation of Korean and Japanese warships are universally astounded by the high quality, attention-to-detail, and overall great design. Without exception, our sailors come off the ships blinking and asking "Why aren't we buying these?"

[gk1]

Commercial shipbuilding in the US has long sailed. The industry leaders are now Japan, South Korea, and China. Nobody in the US is even trying to keep up, because there's no way to compete with the cheap labor force and efficient yards of those countries. For the most part, the only ships still being built in the US are for the military.

[wwweston]

Businesses that don't effectively externalize costs are at a competitive disadvantage to those that do, right?

[vonklaus]

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

[delbel]

I have a neighbor who is 68 years old with a small build and routinely lifts and moves 250lb 18-24' horse gates all by himself. He hired me for a few days for help him do a large horse gate move and I blew out my back on the third day. I have a large build (235lb 6'1"). I have no problem lifting two 50lb feed bags even though I am out of shape. I was very surprised that that this device could only lift 60 kilos (132lb). I wonder what the battery life is and/or if it is coupled with a power source/cable.

[angersock]

That's overengineering--being able to consistently lift 60-100 kg. would be quite useful.

[nwh]

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.

[humbledrone]

It seems feasible to design an exoskeleton suit that is mechanically incapable of breaking your bones. You could pick some flexibility constraints that define a conservative model of how human limbs can bend and swivel, and then design the hardware with physical interlocks that prevent it from moving beyond those limits. Picture an elbow joint that has a metal flange situated such that if the motor tried to extend the arm beyond the normal human straight elbow angle it would be mechanically blocked.

The thing that I find more worrisome is the fact that little squishy people will be handling things that are so heavy that, if fumbled, would carry enough momentum to rip right through them. Imagine letting a 250 kg piece of metal slip -- if it hit your flesh, that's a problem. Once the strength of these suits gets high enough to handle loads like that I think we'll have to see more actual exoskeleton armor to protect the pilots.

[beambot]

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...

[wooptoo]

> 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.

[frozenport]

30 kilograms is 66 pounds. OSHA recommends a two-man lift for weights over 50 pounds : https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/electricalcontractors/mater...

[sanoli]

No. Try carrying 30 kilograms all the time, everyday. Unless you hire only weightlifters/football players to work your factory.

[alistairSH]

Next time you're at the gym, grab a 30lb dumbbell in each hand, walk across the gym, set them down, pick them up again, walk back to starting point, repeat for a few hours. Let us know how it goes.

[gadders]

Yeah. I can't help thinking they've defined down "Super Strength" somewhat.

[thret]

Let's be honest, if these things become commonplace in shipyards - we are all going to want one.

[XorNot]

There's pretty much no reason not to use them everywhere. Every construction site on the planet would benefit from augmented workers. A ridiculous amount of heavy lifting is still involved in putting up just normal buildings, and an injured worker is a big cost and set back.

[Shivetya]

just an extension of all the work being put towards getting people who suffer disabilities back into regular life. I have seen some "suits" that help people walk again, talk about giving freedom back.

[dbg31415]

Soon we will be able to fight off the Aliens.

[ende]

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?