Apparently, radish-related lifting injuries are common enough in Japan that an exoskeleon has now been repurposed for the task of bending down, lifting roots and veggies from the ground, and carrying them to a bin. The exoskeleton weighs 25kg and will cost somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000 yens, which is between $5000 and $10000 (the price would of course drop with bulk orders). How long before I see one of these things in a Harvest Moon game?
You know, I say that radish remark in jest, but apparently a huge amount of Japan’s agricultural workforce is over 65. That’s still a spring chicken in Japanese terms, but damn! Can you imagine a whole farm complex of old guys in power-lifters, plucking parsnips with the gentle noise of servos?
[Via Japan Probe and Reg Hardware]