On Exoskeletons and Brand Names

While I get my daily bread from designing environments and events, my close associates know that I have a 'thing' for powered exoskeletons.

They were once primarily a staple of Sci-Fi literature, film, and comic books...

The armored suits of Starship Troopers:



The Powerloader (essentially a wearable Hi-Lo) from Aliens :



Iron Man's various suits:



The Landmates from the manga and anime Appleseed:



Now firmly accepted as a part of the collective imagination, exoskeletons are finally nearing real-world feasibility.

DARPA , naturally, has been funding development of exoskeletons for military use for sometime now:

Building the Real Iron Man

Raytheon's Sarcos Exoskeleton:



The relative trickle of news about their progress has only whetted my appetite for what they are NOT showing yet.

Anyhow, the latest bit of exoskeletal-related news I've come across concerns Cyberdyne's HAL (yes, you read that right):

Cyborg Exoskeletons May Soon Become as Common as Bicycles



Hm. Perhaps the Japanese have a completely different take on the movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Terminator... or they have a seriously twisted sense of humor. (Uh... Cyberdyne? HAL? Seriously?) While this video is pretty cool, I kept expecting the exoskeleton to fold in upon its victi-, er, wearer and turn them into a bloody pulp... only to skitter away to find another person foolish enough to wear it.

At any rate, with a brand name like Cyberdyne's HAL, ya haveta imagine that the first malfunction will get all sorts of press... of the most unfortunate kind...