Skip to main content

Japanese Cyborg Suit to Clean Up Fukushima

Information Technology Blog - - Japanese Cyborg Suit to Clean Up Fukushima - Information Technology Blog

Japanese robotics wizard Yoshiyuki Sankai invented his science fiction-inspired robotic exoskeletons to help disabled people, but a new model aims to speed up the clean-up at Fukushima. On Monday, Sankai unveiled a new version for his suit, the Hybrid Assistive Limb (code-named HAL, of course), that is designed to provide better shield against radiation and to help carry some of the load for the underpaid and under-protected recovery workers.

The Japanese government expects the nuclear disaster at Fukushima to cost $30 billion over the next 30 years, in part because cleanup workers can only work so many hours in the radioactive environment and are weighed down by 132-pound tungsten anti-radiation vests when they do.

“This new type of HAL robot suit supports the weight of tungsten-made protective clothing and enables their wearers to work on the site without feeling the burden,” Sankai’s company Cyberdyne — which is also the name of the robot corporation in the Terminator movies — said in a statement. “It is hoped that this will reduce risks of working under harsh environments and contribute to early restoration operations by humans in the wake of disasters.”

As futuristic as HAL looks, it’s been in development since 1997. After founding Cyberdyne in 2004, Sankai gave the first public demo of HAL in 2005 and began mass producing the suits in 2009, a milestone that was met by an explosion of international media attention. Sankai isn’t just in it for the press clippings, however. At about $14,000 to $19,000 per suit, the commercial versions are now used in 113 hospitals and welfare centers, by AFP’s count. An earlier model is pictured above. You can see the new suit here.

Source: Japan Invents a Cyborg Suit to Clean Up Fukushima

Thank you for reading IT Blog

Originally posted 2011-11-08 12:27:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The post Japanese Cyborg Suit to Clean Up Fukushima appeared first on Information Technology Blog.



Udimi - Buy Solo Ads from Information Technology Blog https://ift.tt/2EMGkOx
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

9 VCs in Madrid and Barcelona discuss the COVID-19 era and look to the future

Spain’s startup ecosystem has two main hubs: Madrid and Barcelona. Most observers place Barcelona first and Madrid second, but the gap appears to close every year. Barcelona has benefitted from attracting expats in search of sun, beach and lifestyle who tend to produce more internationally minded startups. Madrid’s startups have predominantly been Spain or Latin America-focused, but have become increasingly international in nature. Although not part of this survey, we expect Valencia to join next year, as city authorities have been going all-out to attract entrepreneurs and investors. The overall Spanish ecosystem is generally less mature than those in the U.K., France, Sweden and Germany, but it has been improving at a fast clip. More recently, entrepreneurs in Spain have moved away from emulating success in pursuit of innovative technologies. Following the financial crisis, the Spanish government supported the creation of startups with the launch of FOND-ICO GLOBAL, a €1.5 billi...

How to Stay Creative and Keep SEO in Mind

Information Technology Blog - - How to Stay Creative and Keep SEO in Mind - Information Technology Blog Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to customizing your website’s content to ensure that web browsers give your website a high SEO score. The sites with the highest SEO scores are featured on the search engine’s first page of search results for relevant searches.  71%  of the click-throughs happen with articles listed on the first page of results on the search engine. This means that if your website’s article is the second (or third, or fourth page), it’s less likely the search user will even see your article. You want your article to be ranking as close to the top of the first page of results as possible. In order to have a good SEO score your site’s content needs to feature keywords and relevant phrases. It must be optimized for easy navigation between pages. It also needs to be referenced via external links that drive traffic to your site. Incorporating all of t...

Everything we know about HHS Protect, a secretive government project with Peter Thiel's Palantir that helps brief Trump's coronavirus task force

A secretive project at the US Department of Health and Human Services is working with technology companies to collect and analyze data related to the novel coronavirus .  Dubbed "HHS Protect," the effort tracks information from around the country about coronavirus case numbers, hospital capacity, and even supply chain issues.  HHS uses Palantir Technologies , a data firm cofounded by Peter Thiel, to distill that information for the White House coronavirus task force. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories . A secretive project at the US Department of Health and Human Services is working with technology companies to collect and analyze data related to the novel coronavirus.  Dubbed "HHS Protect," the effort includes roughly 2.5 billion pieces of data from healthcare providers, government officials, and labs around the country about coronavirus case numbers, hospital capacity, and even supply chain issues.  The goal is learn about the progress...