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IPFS News Link • Inventions

Power Jacket MK3 leaps from comic book pages into reality

• http://www.gizmag.com, By Jason Falconer
In recent years Japan has erected life-sized statues of giant robots like Tetsujin-28 go (Gigantor) and a Gundam mobile suit, but statues can't defend the island nation from kaiju attack. Perhaps that is why Sagawa Electronics is bridging the gap between fantasy and reality with a working robotic exoskeleton it calls the Power Jacket MK3 that mimics your every move. And it says it will produce up to five of them for about US$123,000 apiece.
 
The Power Jacket MK3 is kept light thanks to a combination of aluminum and carbon fiber in its frame. It weighs just 25 kg (55 lb) despite being 2.25 m (7 ft 4 in) tall. The suit uses a master-slave system where your arms and legs are strapped to motorized joints that, when moved, drive the motion of the suit's corresponding limbs.
 
The suit contains a total of 14 servo motors (8 of which were designed by the team). Currently its arms are capable of lifting about 15 kg (33 lb), but for safety reasons they are limiting it to just 2 kg (4.4 lb).
 
 
 

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