Am continuing to look at the parallels between ancient mythologies as narratives to contain geological, biological, scientific phenomena and contemporary mythology – mostly in superhero genre but also non-super hero fantasy (often blended with realism) e.g. Russian Doll (Netflix 2019), I was struck by the following article:
‘Older people in Japan are strapping on exoskeletons to help meet the physical demands of their jobs and remain in the workforce longer.
Japan’s population is rapidly ageing, with a record 28 per cent of people aged 65 or older. This has led to a shortage of workers, particularly in manual labour industries such as construction, manufacturing and farming.
To encourage older people to stay in or move into these industries, several tech companies in Japan have developed exoskeleton suits that make it easier to lift and carry heavy objects. “We have no option – elderly people need to stay at the workplace,” says Daigo Orihara at Innophys, which makes one model called the Every Muscle Suit.’
Also interesting to see how in reality more-than-human assemblages are utilised to extract more production out of the workforce rather than turn them into the superheroes we see on our screens.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/31/amazon-warehouse-wristband-tracking
https://uk.pcmag.com/robotics/82778/gms-roboglove-tackles-worker-fatigue