

Korean Shipbuilder Uses Exosuit to Help Build World's Largest Freighter - okasaki
http://www.dailytech.com/Korean+Shipbuilder+Uses+Iron+Man+Exosuit+to+Help+Build+Worlds+Largest+Freighter/article36339.htm

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jotm
I see people practically laughing at the suit's 30 kg limit.

Well, I gotta say that carrying 30 kgs back and forth all day long is actually
pretty damn tiring, and the long term benefits of this first generation suit
are obvious - better health and the worker is less tired at the end of the
day, which is not to be discounted - less depression, more time for your
hobbies, and hitting the gym becomes a pleasure again instead of just another
tiring necessity (because if you don't exercise regularly you increase the
risk of injuring your knees or back at work).

Plus, this is good for developing more advanced versions, like the mentioned
gen2 that would lift 100kg, which is nothing to scoff at.

But I'll still say that remote controlled or automated robots would be better
suited for this kind of work than humans.

~~~
vidarh
I agree. Lifting 30kg is "easy". Lifting 30kg a dozen times isn't that hard.
But the moment you have to carry the weight around a lot, or lift it into
weird positions, it's an entirely different thing.

I do power lifting. I'm an advanced lifter (but not quite competitive levels)
for my weight class and age. I e.g. deadlift 180kg raw (without
equipment/belts etc.).

Yet carrying my 25kg son around gets exhausting after a few minutes, and
that's when he's cooperating and holding on. I _can_ do it for quite an amount
of time, but not without being a wreck afterwards.

Most people don't have the strength or endurance to carry 30kg of dead weight
around for long in _any_ position, but more importantly, even if you can carry
30kg around on your back or clutched to your chest, does not mean you are able
to _do anything_ useful with that weight, such as being able to lift it up to
chest height and push it into place, or rotating it to slide it into awkward
spots, or any number of other things.

E.g. being able to overhead press 100kg still means I'm just barely able to
safely push a 30kg server into place high up in a rack without assistance -
precision movements or moving into positions that affect your balance or
leverage in any way _very_ substantially reduces the amount you're able to
lift.

Increasing the amount of time you can carry a weight around, or increasing
your ability to move the weight into various positions alone will be a big
deal.

~~~
kyllo
Lifting an awkward weight or moving around carrying it also brings a much
higher risk of injuring your back, compared to lifting weights with proper
form.

I can deadlift 220 kgs but have hurt my back moving house a few times,
carrying awkward boxes, furniture and appliances up and down staircases and
such. It's so important to have the weight close to your hips and not out in
front of you--but that's not always possible with an awkwardly shaped weight.

~~~
vidarh
True. I was stalling on back squats at 60kg for months on end and kept hurting
myself trying to pass it because lack of flexibility (and stupidity...) meant
I kept loading my back wrong until I finally gave in and got proper advice.

Just luck that prevented my stubbornness from causing real damage. In a way
I'm glad I learned my lesson while I was stuck at a relatively low
weight,though.

~~~
formulaT
What kind of advice did you end up getting? Was it classes, or a personal
trainer? I'm in the same situation myself, having a very hard time getting
technique down for back squats

~~~
vidarh
I paid for one hour with a physiotherapist, who basically took one look at me.
My problem was basically that my hips were way too inflexible, so the
according advice was stupidly simple.

Basically a bunch of simple dynamic stretches of the hips. E.g. put one foot
forward and bend over as far as you can with a straight back, trying to touch
the floor, and up again, take a step so the other foot is out front, and
repeat. Or stand and hold on to something and swing one leg back and forth as
well as left/right on front of your torso.

To that I added "asian squat". Just practice sitting in the squat position as
long as you can as much as possible throughout the day.

It took me a couple of months to get to the point where my back squat started
going up with good form. In less than 6 months I went from hurting myself at
60kg to doing 5x5 at 150kg without pain (though keep in mind that at I had
been stalling at 60kg for ages and done what I could to compensate with other
exercises).

I'd recommend a physiotherapist and/or a personal trainer you are _very sure_
knows squats properly. A lot of personal trainers are clueless about strength
training. If it's technique, the trainer is your best bet. If your problem is
actually flexibility, a physiotherapist or a personal trainer that's
experienced with e.g. gymnastics or yoga might be just as good for you.

~~~
formulaT
Thanks for the reply. I am working on my flexibility. I'm still scared of
squats, but I'm seeing real results in my flexibility, and squatting slightly
more without discomfort.

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jdleesmiller
Another interesting invention is described in one of the figures ("DSME's New
Technology"):

Freeze Pirates! - DAPS

DSME launched its new pirate alert system 'DSME Anti-Piracy System (DAPS). ...
DAPS is a total ship security system for recognizing and eradicating piracy.
By using the ship's radar signal, the DAPS is able to analyze image
information. This system automatically judges suspected targets based on the
analyzed information. If suspected pirate ships approaches [sic], DAPS will
warn the target through a high output speaker and sound an alert on the ship.
If the pirate comes closer, a sound cannon or water cannon will be used to
incapacitate the pirate.

\--

In many ways, that is more impressive (and scarier).

~~~
runlevel1
Don't forget to turn it off when coming into port.

The tugboat operators will be none too pleased when they get blasted with a
water cannon.

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netcan
For anyone in the know (or who wants to guess): What tools/technology is this
trying to replace? Are there cranes or other tools in use at this kind of a
high tech shipyard that would normally be used to lift a 30kg piece of metal
while welding it into place?

I assume we're not going to see strongmen in the unemployment line after being
replaced by skinnyfat geeks with exosuits…

~~~
oilg
I've been in DSME for a while now and this yard is massive and consists of
probably near a thousand forklifts of all sizes and types, along with hundreds
of cranes and mobile heavy lift cranes but I don't see technology like this
replacing any of those things any time soon. You still need to bring material
from workshops and storage areas to the projects like ships getting built
which would be done with a forklift and/or truck. I could see these being used
inside of workshops to stack materials and maybe replace a few jobs that
forklift operators or a crane would normally take care of. So only thing you'd
probably see this in is fabrication shops building pipe spools or cutting
large pieces of metal.

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netcan
Exosuits (is that what we're calling it is at the stage where progress is
building, shipping, and finding a financially viable markets for products.
That opens the door to a version 2, a version 3 mini, a version X nano.

Looking forward to seeing these in use in more contexts.

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smallhands
We are living in the future ,Ladies and gentlemen!

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idphc8MlwDs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idphc8MlwDs)

~~~
castell
Before, there was Crysis (2007) with its _Nanosuit_
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crysis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crysis))
which itself was inspired by real-life US military _Future Force Warrior_
concept
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Force_Warrior](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Force_Warrior))

~~~
vidarh
It's much older than that: Hardiman [1] was an actual prototype from 1965. And
of course in fiction there's a ton of examples, such as Starship Troopers (the
novel) from 1959.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardiman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardiman)

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
Can probably trace it further back to "Waldo" which I believe was written in
the late 30's

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rgbrenner
previously discussed here last year:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8133808](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8133808)

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wumbovii
SCV reporting for duty!

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mkoryak
read title as "Korean shoplifter uses exosuit..."

