Japanese engineers have developed a robot in a backpack

A team of Japanese scientists and engineers have developed a special "backpack" with robotic limbs that can be used by humans as an additional pair of hands. The invention was presented at the CHI '23 conference.

The main block of the Jizai Arms apparatus is worn on the back or attached to the torso of a person. The system supports three pairs of additional arms. Each arm has its own port installed in the block. The ports are located in different planes so that the arms do not interfere with each other when moving.

The block and four additional arms weigh 14 kilograms. At the same time, arms can be quickly changed or switched from one port to another, and the brushes are removable, so they can always be replaced with new grips as desired or needed.

The arms can be controlled using a special program for a personal computer or using a controller that looks like a reduced copy of the main block and attached manipulators. To move the robot arms it is necessary to move their miniature analogs on the controller or in the program. This may also be done by an operator or even several operators.

Using additional limbs is very promising, although at this stage everything boils down to problems of controlling them. However, other Japanese scientists some years ago confirmed that people are already capable of controlling robotic hands with neuroimpulses.