Apr 11 2009Robot Suit Going Into Production For $4,200

Well folks, it's happening. The HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) robot suit is going into mass production and will be available in Japan sometime soon for around $4,200.
This is great news for HAL's target market: Its ability to grant its wearer tenfold strength increases during specific actions could change the lives of people with degenerative muscle diseases, or accident victims who would otherwise need long, difficult rehabilitative therapy to regain basic mobility. And with a five-hour battery life, it could be quite practical for day to day use.
Thanks, but no thanks. I don't care if I was just a head, I would never ask a robot for help. But that's just me and my genius brain talking. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would gladly use a HAL suit to better their quality of life. And those people -- those people are the enemy.
Video after the jump, just for the HAL of it.
Mass Production Planned For HAL Exoskeleton; Your Personal Iron Man Conversion To Cost $4,200 [gizmodo]
Thanks to Geoff, ROB, Julian, Kraz, Sean and Watch, who promise to kick your ass if they catch you wearing one.
Related Stories
No, No, No: Japanese Killer Construction Bot (05/29/2009)
Japanese Man Builds Giant Robotic Beetle (04/20/2009)
Google's CADIE And Gmail's Auto-Pilot (04/01/2009)

Reader Comments
1. Bigguy707 - April 11, 2009 10:41 AM
First
2. m arijuana bob and the f ucked up schematics - April 11, 2009 10:48 AM
2nd
3. Kill The Firstards - April 11, 2009 10:49 AM
@ 1
You suck ass
4. E of R - April 11, 2009 10:55 AM
Ummmm yeah.....
5. lolman - April 11, 2009 10:56 AM
5th
6. flskjd;sfdk - April 11, 2009 10:57 AM
FIRST~!
7. Tennist0 - April 11, 2009 10:57 AM
Space Odessy 2001 anyone? HAL-1000 ring any bells? Space Ship Discovery? We're all gonna die!
8. P.Al - April 11, 2009 10:58 AM
Cyberdyne? Oh, I'm sure that's a good sign! I mean... what could go wrong with a robot made by Cyberdyne?
9. Tennist0 - April 11, 2009 11:05 AM
I just remembered... space odessy 2010... it was a foreshaddow... space odessy 2001 was a documentary, lets not forget. If 2010 was right then we must find a robot therapist and have him talk HAL into letting us go... but only if we can get the soviets and Americans on the same page
10. The Dwarfer - April 11, 2009 11:10 AM
Cyberdyne the company that created the terminator and HAL the most molevolant artificial intelligence ever, way to go on naming things idiots!
11. SlowMonkey - April 11, 2009 11:11 AM
Be nice or me and my robot suit may use your head-only for games.
12. Tyler - April 11, 2009 11:30 AM
Maybe my standards are just too high, but did anyone else not see anything special in that video?
For $4200 I want my robot exo-suit to let me do more that squat a few times, sit in a chair and then stand up, walk up and down stairs, hold a few bags of sand(?)...
My meat-body can do this for free.
13. Jeremy - April 11, 2009 11:41 AM
Are you guys missing the obvious here?! Samus Aran? This is just the precurser to her awesome varia suit!
14. Anonymous - April 11, 2009 11:45 AM
Anyone else noticed it says cyberdyne on it. The very same company that nearly caused judgement day in terminator two..?
15. mtk - April 11, 2009 11:59 AM
That picture is way gay.
16. Gir - April 11, 2009 12:11 PM
Robot apocalypse is upon us folks.
17. Andrew - April 11, 2009 12:14 PM
Freaking Cyberdyne... yeah, we're screwed. If anybody knows a John Connor, best not let him die.
18. Boost - April 11, 2009 12:15 PM
"designed to help the asian"
Is more like it.
Look at that scrawny wimp. I could still kick his ass with that robot suit on.
19. JFargo - April 11, 2009 12:24 PM
I want to see someone wearing this do something that's actually impressive. A few bags of sand of indeterminate weight while doing some squats doesn't really give any real visual representation of what this thing is capable of. So far, all I've seen is that it's really good at making you walk and sit awkwardly.
20. Chuck Nunchuck - April 11, 2009 12:29 PM
In the yeeeeear 2000. This is what Rugby players will be wearing. Oh, wait.
21. Tennist0 - April 11, 2009 12:31 PM
ok, so now we've linked this to HAL-1000 who killed the crew of discovery and the company from terminator... april fools? i hope
22. Watch - April 11, 2009 12:34 PM
I WANT ONE OF THESE!!!! YES MADE IT IT AGAIN!!!
23. Eelill - April 11, 2009 12:45 PM
Video was retarded.. It was like - watch how this guy can do NORMAL STUFF while wearing a $4,200 suit!!! How about lifting a car or jumping 10ft straight up..
24. scurl - April 11, 2009 1:14 PM
this reminds me of the robot suit i made in my vocation school's welding class. it was made from 4 car jacks, a battery from a golf cart, and 20 lbs. of crack cocaine. It worked phenomenally well until i wore it through downtown seattle, and was chased by a slobbering horde of crackheads. They must be able to sense the stuff, because i had painted it with a TON of chrome spraypaint. anyways, i was running from them when two cars stopped on either side of me, and i decided to just lift the one in front out of the way. the suit was so much stronger then me that when i went to lift, it just sheared off both my arms and the wrists. i was mobbed by the crackheads, and had to go to penis typing school in order to write this obnoxious rants.
25. scurl - April 11, 2009 1:16 PM
also, my grammar has apparently suffered.
26. ojoijoijijijiji - April 11, 2009 1:35 PM
that guy looked totally natural walking in that suit
totally
27. imarobot - April 11, 2009 2:08 PM
I want one
28. ASenseOfRevenge - April 11, 2009 2:30 PM
oh...my...god...he can hold things in his arms and sit down!!! That is ground breaking work right there.
29. Mario - April 11, 2009 3:42 PM
Sheesh, everyone! It's being marketing for people with pre-existing disabilities. Try not being able to do everyday tasks with a severe disability that this could help. I don't think you'll be ragging on it then . This might mean that the disabled might be able to be more independent and lead normal lives. Once again, not for your average person. I think it's a great idea.
30. SL - April 11, 2009 5:07 PM
It's good for lazy people like myself.... but yeah, it's amazing.
31. zetterlund - April 11, 2009 5:43 PM
i just threw up a little in my mouth, thank god i was able to swallow that delicious peice of awsome back down
32. formerly SPELLINGNAZI© - April 11, 2009 6:09 PM
James Cameron needs to sue somebody.
33. They Are Coming For Us! - April 11, 2009 6:54 PM
Sure, this looks good now, but what about when the suit takes over the wearer's brain? Hasn't anyone seen Lawnmower Man? Truly, Pierce Brosnan's finest work.
34. abbert - April 11, 2009 7:06 PM
Cyberdyne? HAL? Sweet blue glow? Hoax imo.
35. Leonidas - April 11, 2009 7:28 PM
To all you sissies whining about Space Odyssey, let me remind you that all it takes to deactivate HAL is a "tiny guillotine for mice." Also, nobody remembers the ending of ALIENS? This is awesome, I want!
36. Bender - April 12, 2009 2:00 AM
FAKE! This is a total Photoshop job. You can tell because no one is dumb enough to name their company Cyberdyne and then release a product named HAL.
Right?
Next up: Omni Consumer Products will showcase its brand new ED-209 law enforcement robot. ("Kills guys wearing business suits dead!")
37. twine - April 12, 2009 3:39 AM
Its ok guys, luckily terminator is just a film which was made up, and so was space odessy 2010 so no one needs to freak out about the end of the world yet...
38. todders - April 12, 2009 10:51 AM
I'd buy this.
Yo, you ever heard of a DICK DONUT? Me either, hilarious though:
http://www.digitalfuntown.com/videos/164
39. jose arcadio bundia - April 12, 2009 11:09 AM
first .. or not who cares
40. Cory - April 12, 2009 1:13 PM
OH MY GOD IT'S MADE BY CYBERDYNE SYSTEMS!!!!!! YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!!! THEY MADE SKYNET IN THE TERMINATOR MOVIES!!!!
41. Sithinious - April 12, 2009 1:28 PM
Did they HAVE to name it HAL???
42. reptilard - April 12, 2009 2:59 PM
@ 36 you're right:
Control Unit on back: loot at the pointer
The guy that photoshoped the chinees misplaced the chinees' head (or maybe the pointer)
43. Dinosaur Rex - April 12, 2009 9:20 PM
I can't upgrade it, when i can attach a few awesome lasers call me.
Varia suit FTW
44. America - April 13, 2009 8:56 AM
Y'know, the Nazis used Robot suits..
45. DreamFolder - April 13, 2009 9:35 AM
James Cameron? pssshh...
Robert Heinlein is the one who first offered the idea of powered armor in Starship Troopers. The movie totally left it out. I think one of the best scenes from the book involved the phrase "I'm a 30-second bomb!" (30-second?)
46. CHEEZEWIZZ - April 13, 2009 10:41 AM
@ 36 and 42
Its not fake they got a website about it with press conferences and everything...
a hoax wouldnt go as far as that...
a lil PEW PEW would be nice tho.
47. d0m0v01 - April 13, 2009 11:15 AM
Just wait until he gets the ring of death, then he will be easy to take out.
48. Ryan - April 13, 2009 1:01 PM
I'm going to assume the bit about "tenfold strength" is only true if you have a degenerative muscle disease.
49. Ins - April 13, 2009 1:31 PM
Sweet, just in a few years we will have spacemarines clearing up North Korea for us..
50. Paper Clip - April 13, 2009 1:53 PM
the US military has one of these 10 yrs ago. and its less bulky too.
51. J-rock - April 13, 2009 3:42 PM
ill think its cool when he can jump into a window on the 10th floor
52. Steampunk T-Rex - April 13, 2009 7:45 PM
These things are cool, but i don't want a sales call from them until they have laser beams, jet packs, and forearm-mounted rocket launchers. PEW PEW!!!
@50
here is a link to an old vid about the US Army design (includes: some heavy lifting, and punching)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hkCcoenLW4
53. kelehendros - April 14, 2009 11:29 AM
i know what i want for christmas :D go go exo-squad
54. Tim - April 14, 2009 1:04 PM
54th!!!
55. Dnalel - April 14, 2009 5:01 PM
anyone notice they spell Cyberdyne exactly like they do in Terminator? AND THEY MAKE ROBOTS.
56. Guy - April 15, 2009 7:17 PM
i just noticed, i dont think anyone else has, they're called 'CRBERDYNE" and they make ROBOTS... like from that movie.. cant remember what its called.. and HAL like from that other movie, wats its name... amazing i know!
57. Steven hawkins - April 16, 2009 11:49 AM
Aparantly you can get a toaster that plugs into your computer, this robot suit cant make toast can it?
58. Gordon Ramsey - April 16, 2009 11:51 AM
I have a toaster that plugs into a robot , I call him robo toast, he keeps the butter drippy
59. Razorback - April 20, 2009 2:05 PM
NEXT STEP SPACE MARINES
60. Xai - April 25, 2009 9:37 PM
The only thing I imagine this would be good for would be for people with diseases that destroy their muscles and don't want to be confined to a wheelchair.
Otherwise, it's pretty absurd. People in accidents should HAVE to take muscle rehab, or they'll rely on this thing their whole life.
61. sno - April 29, 2009 12:03 PM
is it me or you just hate change. well get used to it. the world is going to change matter what. u cant stop it. so try getting used to it.
62. Ok - June 6, 2009 4:22 AM
This suit isnt for everyone i got shot and bounded to a wheelchair in my teen years and been living on my own as soon as i was young enough to do so in US. I live a good life n try to live as normal as possible i put on my pants one leg at a time like u do and am very independent. I think one of these suits is a small price to pay i would take the financial burden and invest in one of these. I would love to try it; obviously not everywhere and all the time but imagine what this suit can do for a paraplegic if im willing to treat myself on such a heavy price tag. Small price to pay for the possibilities
63. elmagicochrisg - July 12, 2009 3:45 PM
63rd ! ...
64. Louis Vuitton Handbags - October 28, 2009 3:39 AM
is experienced in dealing in replica handbags. Our manufactures have paid close attention to the production and make sure they are up to standard to meet our clients' demanding requirements. As our handbags fit your budget as well as your taste, so why hesitate?