Japanese Panasonic subsidiary Atoun has developed a futuristic exoskeleton that is capable of transforming itself into a powered buggy. The suit named Koma 1.5 is made to enable its wearer to lift heavy items while also rolling across smooth terrains such as a factory or a warehouse.

In Buggy Mode, the suit’s wearer can step onto two little platforms and ride it, which might seem like a two-legged electric scooter. In “Two-Legged Mode,” the wearer can use it to walk up and down steps, as shown in the video.

Smartly detecting and avoiding obstacles

As per the official product page, the robotic exoskeleton can also automatically detect and avoid obstacles. It seems like a clunky approach at the moment, but given the largely smooth surfaces warehouse workers have to walk across, putting them on wheels does make sense.

It’s still unclear if Atoun is planning to mass-produce the suit. It’s currently listed as “under development” on the official website. But it’s a fun twist on the powered exoskeleton concept that’s expected to bring some big changes to how the work is done in factories and warehouses.

Other promising robots in the works

Previously, the Chinese tech and e-commerce goliath Alibaba also revealed its plans to launch 1,000 delivery bots across the country this year. Alibaba is automating the delivery process and testing the bots in college campuses and residential complexes rather than relying on human couriers.  The company has claimed that the robots will be able to achieve something no other robots have.

The robots are said to be capable of building a comprehensive understanding of their surroundings while moving along the sidewalks. The company said the bots are capable of plotting the trajectories of people and vehicles and predict their movements -10 seconds in advance with a 99.9999 accuracy rate. That’s a huge claim as pedestrians and drivers can be unpredictable, but it shows how much faith Alibaba has in its technology.