Thanks Grandma, You Can Put the Car Down Now

Much has been written about the aging population of the world's "rich" countries, especially in Japan. The trouble is that people that are older don't really have as much freedom of movement as them kidz with their music and their interweb. The Japanese, not to be outdone by what must seem to them like a nuisance that mom (Nature) forgot to clean up, have come up with a clever way to aid the elderly in their everyday tasks: robotic armor suits. I know, I asked myself why I hadn't thought of that earlier too.

From the article, posted on MSNBC: "The sleek, high-tech get-up looks like a white suit of armor. It straps onto a person’s arms, legs and back and is equipped with a computer, motors and sensors that detect electric nerve signals transmitted from the brain when a person tries to move his limbs." Full story here.

It pretty much is just a bunch of motors strapped to a person's arms and legs that amplify the movements of the wearer, but you cannot deny that it is pretty damn cool. Oh, and the military applications are painfully obvious. Which makes me feel really bad about the poor souls that have to deal with a (most likely) American soldier with a Rambo complex throwing 2-ton cars at them.