For quite some time now, Festo, a leading pneumatics company, has been innovating in the robotics field by creating impressive and very unique robots inspired by nature.
The video below, is a good summary of their innovative work.
Make sure you also have a look at their Youtube channel recently populated with lost of videos.
Via BotJunkie.
Raytheon XOS 2 helping soldier do push-ups
The second iteration of the Raytheon’s exoskeleton has been recently unveiled. It is now much lighter, stronger and faster then its predecessor. The XOS 2 is a wearable robotic suit capable of radically increasing the strength of the human wearing it. Designed for the millitary, it is intended to help soldiers manipulate heavy equipment such as missiles and ammunition.
At the unveiling event, actor Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson in Iron Man movies) was present to give the suit a try. See the suite in action below.
Via Raytheon.
Some time ago, the RobotShop team decided to build a telepresence system. Usually, these kinds of systems are sadly limited to a web-cam and a screen on wheels, and are simply a glorified videophone. This is not the case at RobotShop since we love robots and are all for crazy projects. This is why, a full motion controlled system was put together in order to provide a truly immersive experience to the user. This is very similar to the Justin control haptic suit by DLR featured in the past days, but a few tens of millions of dollars cheaper.
The team did this mainly inspired by one of the coolest robots of all Hollywood history: Johnny 5 (from the Short Circuit movie).
Johnny 5
The Lynxmotion Johnny 5 robotic platform was used, and a motion-capture exoskeleton was put together using mainly potentiometers and wooden sticks. The video below shows further details about the project, its motivations and the end result.
For the reader’s convenience, we have transcribed the list of materials used during the construction featured at the end of the video:
Justin is a German humanoid robot created at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics in Wessling, Germany.
The robot comes in several versions, including one particularly intended for space with super easy to use arms and hands, a head and a torso.
The aim of Justin is to go and repair satellites in space.
The humanoid can be controlled remotely from Earth with a similar telepresence exoskeleton that a human wears.
The advantage of this method is that the operator sees in real time what the robot does (thanks to two cameras) which gives much more precision in movement.
Here’s yet another example of what you can do with LEGO: an exoskeleton to make a robotic hand.
The designer is David Hyman from MOC pages.
His prototype uses 3 rotation sensors for the fingers and two touch sensors for the wrist.
It’s not a whole hand but rather a hand with two fingers: the thumb and index finger.
The “LEGO-tized” hand 
can pick up objects and hold small balls without any problem.
Here’s a video introducing the latest model of the exoskeleton by Lockheed Martin.
The purpose of an exoskeleton is to increase the physical strength and endurance of whoever’s wearing it.
It can allow soldiers to walk much longer and carry heavy loads without tiring.
With the HULC by Lockheed Martin, a built-in microcomputer synchronizes the movements of the machine with the serviceman.
The HULC gives users enough strength to carry 200 pounds, or 91 kg.
See the data sheet (PDF).
You could almost believe it’s a genuine press release from “Stark Industries” but actually it’s a promotion for the film Iron Man 2.
The video, site, company, press releases, photos,… it all seems very real but by taking a closer look you can see that the people in the video look more like actors than scientists ; -)
The Stark Expo 2010 will see the world exclusive unveiling of the Haztech robotic arm by Accutech.
This new (exoskeleton) arm developed by Tony Stark’s Stark Industries through the invention of its subsidiary company, AccuTech, amplifies the movements of a human arm, gives it more strength and protects it from shocks and impacts.
via yozone
Robotics at our service for everyone is the mantra at RobotShop (Robotics at your service! MC).
Above all, we want to evangelize the knowledge and distribution of robots, whatever the reason: fun, professional, domestic or health.
And when you see an exoskeleton being used by someone who is paralyzed, that lets us know that a robot is capable of giving joy back to someone who hasn’t been able to walk for years.
This exoskeleton has been developed in Israel. It’s a remote-controlled robotic prosthesis which opens up the possibility of walking for those who haven’t been able to for some time.
A paraplegic can stand upright and move forward thanks to motorized leg supports, motion sensors on the body and an electronic remote-controlled wrist band.
The Rewalk will cost around 20 000 dollars.
It’s no secret to people that Japan and South Korea have aging populations. Moreover, Japan holds the world record for life expectancy (along with Andorra), and has more than 40,000 centenarians.
It’s for these reasons that Japan is maximizing its efforts to develop robots that will care for the elderly and those with reduced mobility.
The video below shows some of these domestic robots serving humans.
First, you will see Taizo, a small robot that instructs and makes you in do fitness exercises to work your cardio.
Next, robotic legs (exoskeleton) that support the person while walking.
And finally, Paro, the baby seal created to replace your favorite pet.
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