Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Gardener's Exoskeleton

Filed under: Geriatrics , OTC

Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology is actually developing an exoskeleton for aging gardeners.

The "farming robot suit," developed by a team of researchers led by Shigeki Toyama, a professor in the graduate school of the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, has been tested on farms. Researchers hope to have the technology in use in 2 years and develop it into a product and begin selling it in four years.

The suit, which is secured with belts, consists of a resin framework with eight motors to assist the movements of the knees, elbows, lower back and shoulders, making farm work easier.

When pulling out a Japanese radish, for example, about 20 kilograms of instantaneous pressure is exerted on the knees and lower back, but when using the robot suit, only about half the force is used.

So what's the next technology on the horizon? In our humble opinion, full body shield for bonsai masters.

More at Mainichi Daily News...

(hat tip: BoingBoing)

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