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Japanese Firm Shows Off Aliens-Style Power Loader

This article is over 15 years old and may contain outdated information

The days of waiting for a real-life power loader are over. It’s time to stack some really heavy crates.

Okay, maybe it’s not time to stack crates quite yet, but if Japanese Panasonic subsidiary Activelink has anything to say about it, we could be doing a whole lot of stacking &mdash really heavy stacking &mdash by 2015. Activelink is now showing off its seemingly Aliens-inspired Power Loader, which despite this video that looks like it is totally from the 80s, could end up being an impressive piece of machinery.

First of all, if Activelink can create such a complex piece of machinery, why can’t the company make a less-cheesy video? Maybe they were going for a more retro style purposefully? I actually like the video, but everything from the opening logo sequence to the xylophone-ish soundtrack reminds me of the time of RoboCop, not of the future where a complex piece of machinery like this Power Loader should exist.

The video is kind of slow, and doesn’t show off a whole lot other than the Power Loader’s “Utility Arms” moving around, its “High Power Legs” (as opposed to boring, low power legs), the lifting of an object of unknown weight, and a really tight junk strap, but is intriguing nevertheless. The Power Loader currently allows users to lift objects up to 220 pounds, which seems too low to me, and provides force feedback to make the experience easier. I would need the thing to lift at least a ton or two; I’ll be writing a letter to these lazy Activelink bums. Activelink plans to have the Power Loader commercially available by 2015.

Source: io9

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