Imagine this: a world where physical contact between people can cause death and disaster, and the only way to get essential goods to humans stuck in their dwellings is the brave work of the delivery people connecting the world. Yes, we’ve all made the jokes about how 2020 resembles the future Hideo Kojima predicted in Death Stranding a bit too much – and not content to be parodied, reality has now decided that robot exoskeletons for delivery workers exist, too.
ULS Robotics is a Chinese company specialising in powered exoskeleton suits to aid manual laborers in their work. The company is now trialing a suit for delivery people, which will let workers stack packages comically high on their backs to make even more efficient deliveries.
Yes, the image above is of a real product in actual testing, and not just a bit of Death Stranding cosplay. The picture originated from Chinese social media site Weibo before it started making the rounds on Western social media, and YouTuber Naomi Wu has also shared a video of the exoskeleton in action on Twitter.
Sam Porter Bridges, welcome to 2020.
Testing out an @ulsrobotics exoskeleton for deliveries. pic.twitter.com/v8I8QXDdVF
— Naomi Wu 机械妖姬 (@RealSexyCyborg) April 20, 2020
Death Stranding has been delayed on PC, but fear not – there are other upcoming PC games which will continue to predict the nightmare times we find ourselves living in. If this has whet your appetite for AI, have a look at our list on the best robot games – we recommend a few games we think you’ll like.