Prototype heavy lifter has two giant arms that mimic your moves

Raytheon-Sarcos has already made a name for itself 'round these parts with its promising XOS 2 exoskeleton, and now the company is showing off another prototype: one with big ol' robotic arms that'll do what yours do à la Robot Jox, and could very well replace the likes of the forklift.

Besides looking pretty sweet, slapping two mighty industrial robo-limbs onto a mobile platform has plenty of advantages. The obvious: it will greatly enhance the user's strength, and allow the operator to lift up loads in more confined spaces and with more dexterity than, say, a crane. Beyond that, Raytheon's arms would also require very little training, as you don't need to learn which buttons or knobs do what — you just move your arms like you would, and are even provided with some force feedback so that you're feeling what the 'bot arms do.

"Anything that slave [arms] encounters in terms of force is also fed back to the operator so he can actually feel what's happening in the workspace," Fraser Smith, Vice President of Operations at Raytheon, told KSL Utah. "With added strength, the operator doesn't need two or three guys trying to muscle something around. This thing just picks it up and dexterously positions the material." (As pointed out in the comments below, referring to the arms as a "slave" is a little weird. Smith calls it such as it's slaved to the movements of your arms.)

The platform would be useful beyond just construction and opening stuck jars, to boot. It could help with rescue operations to quickly clear debris and find survivors, and can even be controlled remotely so that the operator doesn't have to stand on top of it to work. It definitely looks a lot cooler to do that, though.

See it in action in the video below.

KSL Utah, via the Geekologie Writer, who really needs to spend a few minutes in a room with a robot and calm down

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