Activelink Powerloader Light PLL-04 Exoskeleton In Action

I am quite sure that many of us who have watched the movie Aliens in our younger days would have had the scene where Ripley went toe to toe with the Alien, where the former wore an exoskeleton in order to help balance up the odds in the fight. Well, the future of seeing exoskeletons being worn by normal humans is here, as Activelink depicts in the video above which features the Powerloader Light PLL-04 exoskeleton.

Activelink happens to be a spin-off company of Panasonic, where they are currently pursuing research and development towards breaking down the walls of age, gender and physical strength that will hopefully result in a barrier-free society. Part of this would include the first hybrid walking assistive device in the industry, which is also known as the “Ninja” as its nickname.

The Ninja (which is a whole lot easier to refer to compared to mouthing Powerloader Light PLL-04, don’t you think so?) will deliver active walking assistive control in addition to passive walking control. As the wearer walks, the motor will assist the wearer, while the legs will move forward in a natural gait. No idea on whether this will be affordable enough for the masses or not, but one can hope, can’t we?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Robots
Tags: exoskeleton, Science