Panasonic ActiveLink Power Loader specs

ActiveLink, Panasonic (Japan) Panasonic ActiveLink Power Loader (1)

Not soldNo version reached general sale. In 2010 the leg-only Power Loader Light was quoted at ~$120,000 (¥18,000,000), with half-price terms for partners in a research grant program (New Atlas), but no record of units sold was found (unconfirmed).

Discontinued · unavailableButtons onlyFull-body power suit100 kg lift goalForce-amplifyingNever sold

UnavailableNever delivered to customers. A 2010 offer of the leg-only Power Loader Light to research partners produced no known sales, ActiveLink became ATOUN in 2017, and ATOUN closed in 2022. New Atlas ↗

Control: Not possible. It was a company prototype with no public interface.

New Atlas on the 2009 suit ↗New Atlas on the Power Loader Light ↗Robohub video and details ↗Exoskeleton Report company profile ↗

Overview

The Power Loader was a series of power-amplifying exoskeletons from ActiveLink, a Kyoto-based Panasonic venture named after the cargo loader in the film Aliens. The first full-body suit, shown in 2009, weighed 230 kg on an aluminum frame with 18 electric motors and was meant to let one person lift 100 kg for construction and disaster relief, and after the 2011 Fukushima accident work shifted to the leg-only Power Loader Light for nuclear cleanup with the Japan Atomic Power Company. The 2014 PLL-04 Ninja cut the weight to 15 kg with about 30 kg of assist, and ActiveLink repeatedly promised a market version within a few years that never arrived. ActiveLink became ATOUN in 2017, whose only shipped product was the back-assist Model Y, and ATOUN was dissolved in April 2022. Today's comparable full-body suits are the Sarcos Guardian XO and military designs such as the ONYX.

Specifications

Category	Exoskeletons & exosuits · Full-body, military & research
Released	2009
Country	Japan
Availability	Discontinued · unavailable
Programmability	No programmability
Built-in autonomy	Reactive · Responds to its surroundings without a map, such as avoiding obstacles or following a person
LLM support	None · No voice assistant or LLM.
Vision sensors	No vision sensors
Actuators	Brushless / direct-drive motors
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Proprietary / undisclosed
Control	Buttons only
Weight	230 kg (2009 full suit), 38 kg (2010 Power Loader Light), 15 kg (2014 PLL-04 Ninja)
Assistance	Force sensors read how hard the wearer pushes and motors amplify it, so the full suit aimed at lifting 100 kg with about 30 kg per arm demonstrated. The leg-only Light versions took up to 40 to 60 kg off the wearer, and the 2014 Ninja gave about 30 kg of assist and could run at up to 12 km/h.
Joints	Full body
Battery & runtime	Battery backpack on the Light versions, capacity and runtime not published.
Operation	No buttons or app for movement. The suit follows the wearer through force sensors, amplifying each push like power steering.
Speed	Up to 12 km/h (PLL-04 Ninja running mode)
Sensors	Six-axis force sensors in each sole plus force sensors at the arms and joints.
Compute	Not published
SDK	None