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"Hard to believe we're seeing yet another wearable robot suit emerge from Japan, eh? All sarcasm aside, there actually is a newcomer to the curiously growing market courtesy of Shigeki Toyama and colleagues from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. The aptly dubbed farming robot suit is a strap-on contraption that makes lifting objects much easier than nature intended, reportedly reducing the wear and tear (read: force) placed on one's joints, knees and back by around 50-percent. Additionally, the suit will be programmable depending on the type of work being done, but we've no idea if any third-party attachments (you know, rubber band launchers, integrated HMDs, etc.) are in the works. On the real, you'll be looking at around &amp;yen;500,000 ($4,559) to &amp;yen;1,000,000 ($9,117) to ease your load, but that could dip as low as &amp;yen;200,000 ($1,823) per suit if mass production becomes viable.[Via The Register]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/17/wearable-farming-robot-suit-takes-the-load-off/>