[Tyler]

Coming Soon: Japanese Cyborg Farmers
     

Researchers at the Tokyo University of
Agriculture and Technology have developed an exoskeleton for
farmers. The idea is to assist the aging Japanese farmers in their daily
routine by giving them greater strength to complete their work, much of
which is manual labor. The robotic suit relies on ultrasonic motors
along with various sensors and wireless networking gear. More details
about the suit can be found in a recent Robots-Dreams
article. The mass-produced version of the suit is expected to weigh
in at 8 kilograms and cost about 200,000 yen.  Photos and diagrams of
the technology can be found in a  document
(PDF format, Japanese language) released by the University. More photos
of the exoskeleton can be found in the Mainichi
Daily News story and Sankie
MSN story about the power suit.
   

http://robots.net/article/2442.html