Comment on Wearing exoskeletons to increase work efficiency

tunetardis@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

• 14th_cylon@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  i think the point is to not ruin your body so when you get old, you don’t have to end up in a wheelchair. to prevent the problem, not help you manage it when it is already too late.

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  • tunetardis@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    That’s a fair point. If you have an occupation when you are young that puts undue stress on your body such as heavy lifting or something high impact, you will likely pay for it further down the line. But aging will get you one way or another.

    To use myself as an example, I’m Gen-X and was a bike courier in an earlier life. Today I work a desk job but was still trying to bike commute. Fortunately, cycling is not high impact and I’d say my joints are in better shape than with a lot of my contemporaries? But that’s not to say I have zero pain. I think it’s a given that things are going to start aching as you get older. I also don’t have the stamina I once did.

    So my bike commute is about half an hour each way. If I’m feeling good in the morning, it’s worth a shot. But how do I put this? If I am not highly confident that I will make it there and back without any drama, I will drive instead. And the driving days were growing more frequent over the years.

    But then I got an ebike and it was transformative. I actually still tend to ride it a lot without the motor for exercise, but I know that when I reach my limit, I can flip a switch and cruise on home. Let’s see. I haven’t car commuted once in the month of July so far. And even riding all the way downtown, which is about 2x the distance to work, is no biggie anymore.

    I think right now we are in the midst of an emobility revolution? I see people on all sorts of contraptions going about their business. And I didn’t really mean it to say young people should not get to enjoy this. I was kidding about that. But I do charity work that puts me in contact with a lot of elderly, and I have to say I’m excited for the quality of life improvements this might bring? If you are 80 and you can walk around with the confidence of when you were 18 using some kind of exoskeleton thing, I mean it’s hard to put into words how much that would mean?

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    • ricecooker@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      The first I heard of these devices was to help old people make the religious pilgrimage to a temple in the mountains of Japan. My skeptic self wondered about military applications and how it was going to get twisted right away

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    • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      If you are 80 and you can walk around with the confidence of when you were 18 using some kind of exoskeleton thing, I mean it’s hard to put into words how much that would mean?

      i totally understand. i did not mean to say that seniors should not get it. when you are young and it helps you, like the guy in the video, you should absolutely be able to get one and when you get older and could use one no matter what happened before, you should be able to get one as well.

      mechs for everybody!

      i also agree with your bikestory, that is definitely going to be useful for a lot of people as they get cheaper. i am glad it is working for you.

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