Panasonic Spin Up Fund-supported powered exoskeleton R&D and manufacturing company Activelink Co has announced the POWERLOADER Light (PLL), a lighter-weight (lite?) version of their two-armed power-assist POWERLOADER, for 18M JPY (with basic control software; before tax).

Like the POWERLOADER, the PLL comes with a direct force feedback interface that allows the user to better interact with objects using the device; six-axis sensors under the shoes detect the direction and force of the user’s movements and increases the power of the wearer’s legs by 40 kg (very roughly 400 N). The suits are available starting this month, and are geared for research purposes.