Robots in Tokyo – Robotic legs for soldiers

Tokyo robot-fest click –> here
Army Soldier Systems Center fits & trains soldiers with prosthetic legs click –> here
DARPA releases RFQ for Robotic Limbs –>  here
MIT’s “Troody” helps the way toward better artificial limbs –> here

To see how the four above are connected, please read on kind reader

Seeing the above links got me thinking about
technology and how it can be used to help us, not harm us.   The quote
from the movie “The Rock” came to mind too, when Dr. Stanley Goodspeed
(played by Nicholas Cage) is asked what he knows about VX gas he says
soberly “it’s one of those things we wish we could un-invent.”   But
does technology always result in something horrible for the human
race?    That’s a rhetorical question of course, since we know it
doesn’t (anti-lock brakes, the MRI, and penicillin come to mind)

What’s really fascinating here is not some bizarre borg-like development of humans, but, the actual good use of technology to help
people who truly need it.   In this case, soldiers, both men and women,
sent to war and, in the midst,  facing the effects of having a limb
destroyed or blown off as a result.  The trauma must be incredible,
both physically and psychologically.   The co-developments in robotics
and prosthetics, looks as though it’s moving to a new phase where those
damaged could really be helped, in a big way.

Update 09-04-2011:  Many of the links above have expired, but, this page is still valid and there are new resources to consider.   MIT now has a LegLab to move this concept of robotic limbs forward and bi or multiped robots forward.   You can visit them at this link: MIT LegLab or see their most recent video at MIT LegLab Recent Robot Videos

You can also see how these prosthetics help our wounder warriors by visiting the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center’s Advanced Prostheitcs Page