That's different! Check out these 'dancing' Jizai Arms. (Kazuaki Koyama/jizai-arms.com)
Do you ever find yourself in need of a helping hand. Or two? How about six?
That is the idea behind Jizai Arms. This invention comes from a team at University of Tokyo led by Professor Masahiko Inami.
According to an interview with Reuters, Inami is not interested in a device that will be a "rival to human beings." Instead, it is meant to be "something that helps us do as we please, like a bicycle or e-bike. It supports us and can unlock creativity."
The arms are worn almost like a backpack. Sockets on the unit allow a user to attach one to six arms. Each of them are slightly longer than an adult human's arms. They have similar joints and movement to our own arms, and each have a hand with four fingers and a thumb.
But after that, the similarities end!
Remote control
One of the biggest questions with this gadget is, How are these arms controlled?
If you're hoping that they're controlled by your mind, we're sorry to disappoint you. Instead, they are controlled remotely by another user. That might be something that Inami will need to address before his robot arms can really take off.
But that said, we still find these arms really interesting. We'd try these arms out for a day!
Inami was inspired to make them after thinking about traditional Japanese puppetry, where up to three puppeteers are in control of a single puppet. Maybe that remote control makes more sense now, right?
Watch a Reuters video below of the invention in motion, moving with a pair of Japanese dancers.
