IBARIKI, Japan — A Japanese research company is creating a new type of robotic suit that will shield the wearer from the harmful effects of extreme radiation.
The Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) is being developed by the Cyberdyne Corporation, according to Gizmodo.
The robotic suit comes after the Fukushima plant disaster, where clean-up efforts are still taking place. Although radiation levels have steeply dropped, it is still high enough to be fatal.
Currently Japanese crews must wear 130-pound tungsten vests to protect themselves, which leaves them unable to do much manual work.
The suit is almost something out of a comic book, allowing the person inside to control the suit with his mind, but will also be resistant to hazmat materials and radiation. The wearer will also have “superhuman strength.”
The suit is 5-feet tall, weighs 50 pounds and is powered by a 100-volt AC battery that can provide about three hours of use.
Sensors that can read nerve’s electrical signals will tell the suit to stand or walk and perform other actions.
A version of HAL already exists in Japanese hospitals, but the version resistant to radiation has no release date yet.