For many vacationers, a trip might involve a challenging climb up a mountain for a spot of exercise and to enjoy the amazing views from the top, the sense of satisfaction enhanced by all of the effort expended to reach the peak.
But for some tourists taking on Mount Tai in Shandong, China, the required exertion seems like a waste of … well … energy. Especially when a pair of robotic legs can do the job instead.
It’s true. Tourism officials at Mount Tai recently came up with the idea of offering tourists a robotic exoskeleton that lets your leg muscles take a back seat, CNN reported.
The 5,000-foot (1,525-meter) mountain has 7,000 steps and — thanks largely to viral TikTok videos showing exhausted climbers on all fours or simply in a heap on the ground — has earned a reputation for being a tricky ascent.
This prompted tourism officials to offer the exoskeleton for less confident climbers, including older folks. On the first day of the rental service last month, more than 200 people paid around 70 yuan (about $9.50) to hire the robotic legs.
The contraption was created by Kenqing Technology, a Shenzhen-based tech company, in partnership with Taishan Cultural Tourism Group. Weighing a mere 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms), the device fits around a person’s waist and thighs. With a battery life of approximately five hours, the robotic legs are designed to transform your walk, putting something of a spring in your step.
One tourist who used the robotic legs told Xinhua News Agency that they “really work,” adding that it “felt like someone was pulling me up the hill.”
Another user said that while it definitely made the climb easier, he “felt a bit clumsy” after removing the robotic legs and walking under his own power again.
These particular robotic legs are currently in beta testing but could hit the mass market as soon as next month.
Besides helping low-energy folks to complete a climb, technology like this can be useful for older people who have trouble walking, or in particular kinds of jobs, such as those that require a lot of lower-body movement.
A growing number of tech firms are developing robotic legs, and designs are becoming much sleeker and less bulkier than before. You never know, with a little more refinement and a bit of added power, elderly climbers may soon be bounding all the way to the top of Mount Tai as if they were teenagers again. Now that we’d like to see.