Gizmodo
Are you a feeble, pasty pansy? For the low price of $1000 a month, you could overcome your physical limitations with a HAL exoskeleton from Cyberdyne. While HAL prototypes have been around for a few years now, Cyberdyne has just begun building a lab that will mass produce 400-500 of the suits per year starting this October.
Using sensors attached to the skin, the suit supposedly moves effortlessly with your muscles and it has the capability of increasing your strength up to 10 times the norm. It also has a continuous operating time of about 2 hours and 40 minutes. As mentioned, the monthly rental fee has been set at $1000 which includes $300 for maintenance and upgrades. No word on whether or not they plan on selling these things outright, but I would be perfectly happy renting one and going all Hulk on my enemies for a month or so. [Cyberdyne via LovingtheMachine vie BotJunkie via Boing Boing Gadgets]
Comments
Its called HAL and made by Cyberdyne? Anyone worried?
Cyberdyne?
Seriously? The exo-robot suit company is actually called Cyberdyne?
I'll be damned. It really is the future!
Where's my flying car? I wanna go to the moonbase!
Ok bullies! I have 2 hours and 40 minutes to kick your asses.
Yeah, I don't want my exoskeleton to suddenly say, "I can't do that Dave..."
"but I would be perfectly happy renting one and going all Hulk on my enemies for a month or so."
yeah i might have to go in on one of these with some buddies - this thing would blow everyone away! best conversation starter ever.
@WilCon: No, not as long as I have the option of disconnecting the SkyNet™ port.
For the low price of $1000 a month, I can turn into a glowing robotic vigilante for justice?
Sign me up! Wait, are there any penalties for canceling early, if it works out that I really suck at fighting crime?
I'd insist an "trialling" it for a few hours before putting down a grand.
@bosskev: You can but as the system is self aware it retaliates but disconnecting you from the unit.
combine this with a segway can you are officially 46 and 2.
WHAT!?!?
increasing your strength by 10 times!?
Just what can you do with this suit? It looks like it does a better job of weighing you down than increasing ur strength
Does it also make you run faster?
I just dont believe it
I would have to rent one and strap a big ass machine gun to the arm.. then we'd see who the loser geek is! Take that old-highschool-arch-rival-captain-of-the-football -team!!!
how long til the exoskeleton porn shows up? JUST IMAGINE! You could just wander around with a girl in each hand, plugging away with impunity!
also, how long til someone rips their dick off?
I think I might have to rent it, go to the gym, bench press the entire bench press, and laugh at how puny everyone's muscles are.
Somewhat more seriously I wonder how this would effect someone's ability to run or jump.
I can just imagine that creepy guy at your workplace (you all know what I'm talking about, a guy like Milton) just snapping and coming to work with one of these babies, bashing the hell out of all the cubicles and fax and coffee machines
"Respect my authority!!! I AM IRON MAN!!!!"
I think this is the part where the world ends.
Although, this looks like the beginning of a power suit like the marines in StarCraft...
I wonder when it errors out it says "I'm sorry Dave, but I cannot allow you to do that."
So, who decided to make it 80's PC Beige?
At about $13.50 an hour, this seems pretty reasonable, especially this early in the production history. The weak link would seem to be the hands. You might be able to lift 10X as much, but can you hang on? Much as when Steve Austin would uproot and throw a phone pole. His bionic arm might handle it, but his spine would collapse. Still pretty freakin' cool. Can you jump higher and run faster?
Who wants to pitch in on this with me?
I'd gladly pay $33.33 for a day with one of these. Now to find another 29 people that live by me that do too....
wait.. wouldnt lifting 300 pounds crush your hands?
wait...what good is having all that power with nothing to cover the hands and feet? You know, the actual point of contact for all that force? So basically your hands will break off, but your wrists have 10x the power. nice.
Sweet.
Just one step closer to a true Master Chief suit.
@vicm:
no, should be ok, people deadlift more than that.
@GadgetPlay & vicm: get out of my head
I wanna show up to a police station wearing this. (robocop). good Halloween costume though. also planning on moving soon, this would help.
@Mith:
From the CyberDyne brochure's FAQ:
Q: Just what can you do with this suit? It looks like it does a better job of weighing you down than increasing ur strength.
A: While the ROBOT SUIT HAL™ does add additional weight and drag to the wearer, lab measurements show the decrease in biological efficiency to be a less than 92% reduction in native abilities! Thus, when enhanced with the up to 10x increase in performance via the ROBOT SUIT HAL™, a user can typically expect a net gain of, umm, well, maybe something like plus .07%. More or less. And look like a total tool in the process.
What if your a .... "short person", is their a limit to your size? I'm not really interested in it for myself. Just want to picture a midget wearing one
That's gotta be a new peripheral for the Wii.
ideas:
get drunk and starts rolling cars over.
get giant sweatsuit to wear over this thing, go to the gym, and start making bets with lots of people.
with said sweatsuit covering the device, enter your pubs local arm wrestling competition.
pull a tree out of the ground and beat someone with it.
go stand in front of home depot with the dayworkers and terk ther jerbs!
@Pepper: If u see a midget wearing one in person... just remember, they may be 1/2 your size but that suit makes them 10x more powerful than they were... so laugh softly.
So, it allows the wearer to lift 10 times more? So the tiny Asian guy can now pick up, what, 130 pounds?
Maybe 150 with that dramatic pose he has struck.
As the husband of someone with muscular dystrophy, this excites me quite a bit. Having my wife be able to pick things up on her own would be worth $33 per day right there.
*damage due to fighting with arch enemy is not covered by factory warranty.
@nutbastard: As long as you make at least $1000 dollars a month, the suit pays for itself...
Its a business!
Imagine the worlds strongest man(or woman!) wearing this.
@WilCon:
Worried? Not me.
Not until 2:14 a.m. eastern time, August 29.
So a company called Cyberdyne has this in their mission statement:
"We strongly believe that technologies should be designed for the benefits of humankind."
That right there spells trouble. And if this suit is so good why aren't the military folks using this instead of the tethered one they appear to be working on for soldiers?
I am both skeptical and worried...
Anyone got a 10x hug for me?
Urk.
can you sit on the toilet in it?
I am so getting this and hitting the gym. "How much ya bench?" "About 3,000"
I can see this being a new villain in an Ong-Bak sequel.
@WilCon: I most defiantly am... everyone ready for the robot uprising of 2012?
@flyboy: "can you sit on the toilet in it?"
Yes, you can, but CyberDyne's EULA specifically denies warranty coverage from damages due to explosions of porcelain fixtures.
after reading endless articles about iphones and fake iphones and Macs and fake macs, its about time someone aided my atrophy
@Papsky:
"Imagine the worlds strongest man(or woman!) wearing this."
they would see less benefit from it than a weakling would.
Giz HAS to review this thing when it becomes available. Must. No two ways about it.
I vote for frucci doing the honors.
Straight from the site:
When a person attempts to move, nerve signals are sent from the brain to the muscles via motoneuron, moving the musculoskeletal system as a consequence. At this moment, very weak biosignals can be detected on the surface of the skin. HAL catches these signals through a sensor attached on the skin of the wearer. Based on the signals obtained, the power unit is controlled to move the joint unitedly with the wearer's muscle movement, enabling to support the wearer's daily activities. This is what we call a 'voluntary control system' that provides movement interpreting the wearer's intention from the biosignals in advance of the actual movement. Not only a 'voluntary control system' HAL has, but also a 'robotic autonomous control system' that provides human-like movement based on a robotic system which integrally work together with the 'autonomous control system'. HAL is the world's first cyborg-type robot controlled by this unique Hybrid System.
uhhhhhhhhh
@nutbastard: have Chen suit up and kick Blam's ass
@flyboy: I think if you did, you'd rip out your own spine when you went to wipe.
My concern is having the battery die while I'm showing off, like with an Audi held over my head. Yet another stupid way to die.
Wait, that's two! What a great device!
okthat pic cture of the guy...does not help sell the suit, he looks like a bad robot ninja..a gay robot ninja....
You know, that actually seems like a reasonable price for rentals... I mean, $600 starting price for an iPhone or PS3? Yeah, that is actually perfectly reasonable, considering all the fun you could have with it!
~Y
Cyberdyne? Hal? is this a coincidence?
@nutbastard:
I want power units for male genitalia, that would be some killer porn, plus if they paint it "Hot Rod" Red I can fulfill my Iron Man fantasies at the same time ;-)
@nutbastard:
I'd rather not see Frucci in his cybernetic-porn debut. = /
[gizmodo.com]
don't worry, I'm from the internet!
That guy looks weird in that suit...
@Acemonster:
yeah but if we DID get frucci into one of these, he could do his white-guy robot dance for reals this time!
fuck man this would be great for claiming you were actually a time traveler from 2036 or something. people aren't very aware of these things.
you know where this would be hilarious to wear? in the southern states. people'd be freaking out.
I wonder what kind of punch you could throw with this thing, or if it responds quickly enough.
It doesn't increase the strength of your grip, though, so don't plan on actually lifting anything heavier than you can already lift.
Excuse me while I switch to side B for some Rockit!
Seriously, if you want to make a ton of cash, open up a HAL suit rental next to the local U-Haul franchise, rent them for $100/day, and give the renter a 15 minute tutorial on how the thing works.
You could move an entire house load of stuff in a day with one of these, and it would still be cheaper than hiring a mover.
@LA_Longhorn: You sure it's cheaper? Because those "helpful people" at my local Home Depot here in L.A. are pretty cheap.