SOUTH KOREA - Could South Korean dock workers become a real life Iron Man? The question sounds silly, but after reading about the technology that is already being used by these workers, it might not be so outlandish.
Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering has engineered a robotic exoskeleton suit that allows workers to comfortably lift and walk around with objects up to 30 kilograms, or 66lbs, in weight, regardless of their strength or endurance.
Although 66lbs might not seem so impressive to many in the produce industry who could probably comfortably lift that much themselves without the aid of external machinery, Gilwhoan Chu, Daewoo's Lead Engineer for Research and Development, stresses that this version is only an early prototype.
"We've been developing and applying robots and automation in shipbuilding for more than a decade,” he told New Scientist. “Our current research target of the lifting capacity is about 100 kilograms.”
That's over 220lbs for our American readers!
Daewoo is already using this technology to build enormous shipping vessels according to New Technology. Daewoo currently has a $1.9 billion contract from the shipping titan Maersk to build ten 55,000 ton container ships, each 400 meters in length. These ships would be able to hold a record setting 18,000 containers each!
The uses of the exoskeletons are not just limited to the shipyard either. Imagine the implications of a superpowered workforce that could lift weights of that amount without tiring quickly or needing bulky machinery for retail. Retail warehouses could one day say goodbye to forklifts and hello to Daewoo exoskeleton suits.
If Chu has anything to say about it, that kind of future could be closer than we think.
