ANDY TORBET:Welcome to Beyond Bionic on 成人快手 Teach. I'm Andy Torbet, the show's presenter, and in every episode I go up against some of nature's best athletes and try and match their super skills.
ANDY TORBET:And here's what happened when I tried to be as strong as a gorilla. These awesome great apes are one of the most powerful creatures on the planet.
ANDY TORBET:Gorillas normally lead very peaceful lives, but they're also capable of huge bursts of explosive energy.
ANDY TORBET:And that can give them the ability to lift up to ten times their own body weight. And my challenge is to try and be as strong as a gorilla.
ANDY TORBET:'I've been set the ultimate gorilla strength test, 'I'm going to have to call on the best of tech 'and the most science-y of, well, science to match its strength. 'Because gorillas are staggeringly strong.
ANDY TORBET:'Gorillas are one of the strongest creatures on earth. 'Their enormous arms contain so much power 'that they could easily lift an entire family of humans 'without too much trouble.
ANDY TORBET:'Some scientists think the gorilla 'is able to lift as much as 10 times its own weight. Which means it has a strength to bodyweight of 10.
ANDY TORBET:'I'm quite strong, I can lift 1.5 times my body weight. 'Most people would hurt themselves trying that. 'So I need to find the right tech to boost my strength 'and go beyond bionic.'
ANDY TORBET:I've come to a very special research and development lab here in Germany to look at a cutting edge piece of technology called an exoskeleton.
ANDY TORBET:'An exoskeleton is a wearable mobile machine 'powered by a system of electric motors, levers 'and other mechanical technologies.
ANDY TORBET:'This is space-age tech and I can't wait to give it a go. 'Strapping on the exoskeleton is like putting on the ultimate gaming device. 'But I get to play with real robots.'
SCIENTIST:So in the exoskeleton there are lots of sensors so whatever you're doing, they measure that, and then they send it to a computer and then they map to the robot.
ANDY TORBET:So I could literally be stood here in Germany鈥
SCIENTIST:Right.
ANDY TORBET:And Ayla could be stood on the International Space Station鈥
SCIENTIST:That's right.
ANDY TORBET:And I could get her to flick switches, press buttons.
So this challenge is all about strength, can this exoskeleton make me stronger?
SCIENTIST:Not this one, but there are exoskeletons that actually give you more power and give you more strength, yes.
ANDY TORBET:So, I've come 5,000 miles across the Atlantic ocean to Richmond, in California, to visit a company that's developing some truly cutting-edge exoskeleton technology.
ANDY TORBET:'I'm meeting engineer, Claire, 'to see if she's got some exoskeleton kit 'that can help me in my challenge to be as strong as a gorilla.'
CLAIRE:I have a little task for you.
ANDY TORBET:Okay.
CLAIRE:I want you to hold the medicine ball at this angle, which is really where you'd feel the most advantage from the vest. Go!
ANDY TORBET:Yeah starting to feel the burn a little bit in the shoulders. Can feel my heart racing.
CLAIRE:Alright. 1:13, not terrible!
ANDY TORBET:Not too bad.
CLAIRE:You want to try it with the exoskeleton?
ANDY TORBET:Yeah definitely.
CLAIRE:Great. Here you go. Keep it in your body until I tell you to go, no cheating. Alright you ready?
ANDY TORBET:Yeah.
CLAIRE:Go.
3700:03:37:10 00:03:40:05CLAIRE:You feel any initial differences between the two?
ANDY TORBET:Yeah it's much easier.
CLAIRE:So it's nitrogen in these little canisters here. The more nitrogen that goes through these little spring cases, the more assistance you feel. The more power you've got.
CLAIRE:Alright Andy, well we're already at 1:30 and I'm getting a little bit bored.
ANDY TORBET:Yeah I quite fancy going for my tea now, shall we stop?
CLAIRE:Let's do it.
ANDY TORBET:This is great for endurance. Is there any way of using an exoskeleton to improve my maximum strength?
CLAIRE:Well for that you'd actually have to have a full body exoskeleton to transmit all of those forces down into the ground.
ANDY TORBET:'My challenge to lift ten times my bodyweight has taken me to Japan. 'Where I've heard of a super-sized exoskeleton 'that could be just what I need.'
ANDY TORBET:It's very sensitive. Got our four sensors, one in each hand and one in each foot, and that combined with the 20 motors dotted all around the exoskeleton, means I can move in as many different ways as I can think of.
ANDY TORBET:'But can I lift 200kg, the most I've attempted on this challenge, 'with the exoskeleton?'
ANDY TORBET:Now that is incredible, that I can lift that much weight with such little effort. But that's because the exoskeleton is doing all the work for me.
ANDY TORBET:'Impressive as the exoskeleton is, 'I'm putting no physical effort in to lifting the weight. 'and that's just not how a gorilla does it.
ANDY TORBET:'So if I'm going to truly lift like this perfect primate, 'it's back to the drawing board.'
ANDY TORBET:So this is what 800kg looks like mostly made up of water in these big barrels and clearly there's no鈥 No way I can lift this.
ANDY TORBET:I've been all around the world, I've used some of the most cutting-edge technology and none of it has helped me lift 10 times my own body weight.
ANDY TORBET:'So I'm going back to the drawing board and a simple mechanism 'that will help multiply my lifting power, the pulley.
ANDY TORBET:is a team of engineers 'to help me build a super-sized pulley system, 'and let me lift like a gorilla.'
ANDY TORBET:Okay, that is the very last thing. We're all set up. 'I can comfortably lift 100kg, 'so the team have worked out that a system with 8 pulleys 'should allow me to lift 8 times 100kg and complete my challenge.'
ANDY TORBET:Time to lift like a gorilla!
ANDY TORBET:Look at that! That is incredible, it works! I can actually lift ten times my own bodyweight. Challenge successful.
ANDY TORBET:Well I hope you enjoyed that, I certainly had fun. And I've got to give total respect to the gorilla, I had to use cutting edge technology to be able to match it's super strength.
ANDY TORBET:And remember, you can check out more Beyond Bionic on 成人快手 Teach. See you next time.
Andy Torbet takes on a heavyweight Beyond Bionic challenge as he attempts to match the super strength of the gorilla.
He travels around the globe in search of the cutting edge technology that can help him lift up to 10 times his own body weight.
In Germany, the USA and Japan, Andy tries out the latest in wearable exoskeleton technology that is helping push the limits of the human body and perform incredible tasks in space.
Can he succeed in his ultimate challenge to lift 800 kilograms and match the strength of the gorilla, or will the king of the jungle muscle him out of the competition?
This is from the series: Beyond Bionic
Teacher Notes
You could get your class to work in groups to research and design their own technology to match the gorilla.
They could make posters and simple miniature prototypes, before presenting their designs to the rest of the class; outlining the science and technology that would help them.
Curriculum Notes
These clips are suitable for teaching Design and Technology at KS2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and at 2nd Level in Scotland.
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