Meet The Scientist Behind HAL, the Real "Iron Man" (Guess What His Company Is Called)
Posted by Alex_Pasternack on Friday, May 07, 2010
Like the comic book hero, the real life Iron Man got its start half-a-century ago, in a lab at General Electric. But it wasn’t until recently that the concept has begun to reach fruition. As in, you can actually rent one now for the low low price of a grand a month.*
Last year, Motherboard visited Cyberdyne, the Tokyo R&D center of Professor Yoshiyuki Sankai, a scientist working on the front lines of wearable robotics. Sankai’s foray into powered exoskeletons, HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb), is one of the leading present-day designs for wearable robotics. (Yup, Cyberdyne – the name James Cameron dreamed up for the company behind the Terminator.)
With robotic limbs that strap to one’s arms and legs, the HAL exoskeleton moves according to the thoughts of its wearer. Muscle movements are based on nerve signals sent from the brain to the muscles – signals that are registered in very weak traces on the surface of the skin. HAL identifies these signals using a sensor, and sends a signal to the suit’s power unit – a backpack containing a battery and computer controller – moving the robotic limbs along with the human limbs.
The applications are far-ranging, from giving mobility to the handicapped to allowing soldiers to lift inhuman loads. And sure enough, once HAL debuted in 2008, Sankai started fielding phone calls from governments around the world (he won’t say which ones).
But to Sankai, who draws inspiration from Asimov and the future-minded cartoons of his youth (he even has a HAL action figure), the uses of technology should be more altruistic. “The purpose of technology should be to help people,” he says. “Using technology to hurt or kill others should be avoided.”
Of course, promises of benevolent robots from a company whose name is stolen from the one that the Terminator films envisioned would launch a robotic war on humanity can ring a bit hollow. Especially when the company’s first big product is named after another super-intelligent enemy of the human race. And then there’s the press language that takes pains to emphasize the company’s interest in technology “for the benefits of humankind.”
But to Sankai, HAL simply represents a part of the human effort to “take part in their own evolution.” And what happens when machines begin to evolve intelligence and strength faster than humans? “We would try to catch up and that would not be the best scenario. We must be cautious of the relationship between robots and humans in the future.”
The rest is the stuff of Hollywood futures. And it’s a future being written right now, by friendly, mild-mannered scientists like Dr. Sankai.
(*HAL is only available for rent in Japan and on a trial basis elsewhere. Cyberdyne is exploring entering the US market.)
Also see Motherboard’s documentary on the inventor Dr. Nakamats, Japan’s Edison-killer, and on real-life Iron Man wannabes like mecha-builder Carlos Owens, the Mexican backyard rocketeer Juan Manuel Gallegos, and musician Steve Mann, “the world’s first cyborg.”
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Email: alexp at motherboard dot tv. @pasternack,
