A Device Set To Make Man Twice As Strong?

No, this is not a product of an experiment gone bad nor a mutation caused by evolution. Homayoon Kazerooni of the University of California said they have developed a gadget that’s still absent from Batman’s utility belt – a device that could make the bearer superhumanly strong.

“The technology we developed is a robotic device a person would wear and this way, the device would carry a major load and the person would not feel any load,” Kazerooni said, referring to the Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (dubbed simply as “Bleex”). It’s a metal contraption that runs along the person’s legs to his back molded in a frame that can carry a 200-lb backpack – with the wearer feeling as light as the last time he fasted for Lent.

Bleex packs around 40 sensors and a futuristic hydraulics system that copies the basic functions of the human nervous system. The sensors feed information to a central computer brain, which continually calculates how to distribute the weight so that the wearer feels little or none of it. “We thought the combination of human interaction, human decision-making process with machine power is a better solution for a lot of robotic tasks.” he explained.

This technology may be efficient for soldiers who carry heavy weaponry (too bad it doesn’t enable users to lift tanks), firefighters who carry heavy equipment, or even victims where vehicles can’t go, and working moms who need to bring their child to work. (I heard an attachable jungle playset is optional.) As for the usefulness of this device in crime fighting, well, apparently there is none, unless the villain is stupid enough to kick your thighs.

No, this is not a product of an experiment gone bad nor a mutation caused by evolution. Homayoon Kazerooni of the University of California said they have developed a gadget that’s still absent from Batman’s utility belt – a device that could make the bearer superhumanly strong.

“The technology we developed is a robotic device a person would wear and this way, the device would carry a major load and the person would not feel any load,” Kazerooni said, referring to the Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (dubbed simply as “Bleex”). It’s a metal contraption that runs along the person’s legs to his back molded in a frame that can carry a 200-lb backpack – with the wearer feeling as light as the last time he fasted for Lent.

Bleex packs around 40 sensors and a futuristic hydraulics system that copies the basic functions of the human nervous system. The sensors feed information to a central computer brain, which continually calculates how to distribute the weight so that the wearer feels little or none of it. “We thought the combination of human interaction, human decision-making process with machine power is a better solution for a lot of robotic tasks.” he explained.

This technology may be efficient for soldiers who carry heavy weaponry (too bad it doesn’t enable users to lift tanks), firefighters who carry heavy equipment, or even victims where vehicles can’t go, and working moms who need to bring their child to work. (I heard an attachable jungle playset is optional.) As for the usefulness of this device in crime fighting, well, apparently there is none, unless the villain is stupid enough to kick your thighs.