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Robot tail developed to balance out human body and stop people from falling over
The strap-on appendage, known as Arque, has been developed by researchers at Keio University in Japan.
[...] The tail can be be adjusted to fit whoever is wearing it by adding or removing modular "vertebrae", the Fast Company reports .
Small weights can also be inserted inside each vertebrae to help offset the wearer's weight.
[...] Artificial muscles inside the robotic tail control its movement by contracting and expanding using an external pressurised air system that resembles a lawn mower or giant vacuum.
Because the prototype tail has to remain tethered to this system, the wearer is not able to move very far using it.
[...] The tail was presented last week at the 2019 SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles , which focuses on graphics, gaming, and emerging technology.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Sulla on Wednesday August 07 2019, @02:53PM (4 children)
Between human-animal hybrids and mecha tails it looks like Japan is finally making anime real
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Rich on Wednesday August 07 2019, @03:27PM (2 children)
When I read the first few words of the headline I thought "This can only come from Japan". Was that prejudice?
The second question was whether Tohru's or Elma's tail style would be more fashionable. And the third, after considering that this is done to balance out the body and stop it from falling over, why Lucoa doesn't have a tail. :P
May the kami of Yasuhiro Takemoto watch well over the making of a second season of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday August 08 2019, @03:54AM (1 child)
Is this in the works? Don't toy with me.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Rich on Thursday August 08 2019, @09:41AM
https://moetron.net/post/182707978340/a-second-season-of-the-miss-kobayashis-dragon [moetron.net] : "A second season of the “Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid” S2 TV anime series has been announced on the 8th volume of the manga.". But as first season director Takemoto perished in the arson attack on the studio, it's not really certain what will happen now. Hence I wrote "a second season".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 07 2019, @05:56PM
China claimed they are working on human-ape hybrids to harvest organs from.
Between that and a bionic tail, the future is shaping up to be crazier than even the wackiest of sci-fi.
If we can now just get our flying cars, we can go monkey cruzin' for hot ape chicks.