Are we at a point in human history where we can get robotic limbs and other things to better our day to day lives? Like a robotic arm where I can pick up 100lbs with one arm and so forth?

First thing you’d need is a robotic lower back

100 lbs with one robotic arm? Can you currently carry 100 pounds on one side of your body? If not.. uhh, having an arm attached to you that can carry 100 pounds will be meaningless. The REST of you has to have the strength to carry the arm and the 100 pounds.

Unless it's like some exoskeleton armature you climb into.

So, robotic limbs kind of exist to a degree in the prototype stage, but like, a robot arm by itself isnt going to let you casually lift 100lbs regardless of how advanced the arm itself is, unless you also have a spine, legs and attachment for that arm capable of handling that lifting too, or some kind of wearable exoskeleton to take the weight off those areas

No

Isn't the obvious problem whatever your arm lifts, the rest of your body has to support? an "arm" alone attached to a frail human body would pretty quickly hit its limits, and lifting 1000 lbs is basically giant exo skelleton level.

Powered exoskeletons do exist. IDK if most prosthesises are particularly sturdy, the connection to the body (i.e. arm/leg stump) would be a weak point that's difficult to overcome and most people are probably more interested in fine control.

Yes Don. There are cyborgs amongst us.

Not yet, no.

Current state of the art accessible to a customer is way off from that. Exoskeletons are maybe ten to fifteen years out from being something that's going to be really ready for prime time, as an optimistic guesstimate. But that won't be personal gear unless you're very wealthy.

Honestly, because of how much demand there will be in industrial settings, I don't expect it to reach a level where the average person can just run out and buy one in any of our lifetimes. Maybe a generation after that? Two? But it is possible that it will within that time frame, but I expect they'll be absurdly expensive if so. Like high end sports car expensive, if you want them to be worth a damn.

Besides, the spare arm idea is limited in use, as others have said, by the ergonomics of it. A robot arm still needs to be securely attached to you, and the rest of your body has to compensate for the weight and motion. Even with super light materials, you won't get them lighter than your meat arm unless you want them weak

It’s coming, just not quite there yet.

"we?" are you rich? if yes, then "we" can. Not? Then nope we cant

I think it's close? Like 5-20 years close for commercially available robotics prosthetics systems (probably still need doctor's prescriptions for it though)

• We already have pretty well-established prosthetics systems at the moment
• China and Japan (esp China) have some pretty exciting robotics breakthroughs, see the hilarious robotics Olympics from China recently
• However, China isn't the best at manufacturing QC yet, so widespread deployment may take a few years from above

Where are the goddamn exosquelettons, guys? Where are the mechas?

robotic prosthesis already exist. exoskeletons exist, but are very limited and not really practically useful outside of very specific use cases. robotic arms do a substantial amount of work in manufacturing, just not attached to people. remember, a robotic arm might be able to lift a load, but that arm just passes the lobe on to your shoulder, back, and legs. you still need to balance the forces in your body. an infinitely strong arm in isolation would have very limited use without a full robotic skeleton to support it. so yes, these things exist, but no, not in the sci fi manner you're thinking (nor would they be useful if they did exist). we have the technology, but physics in the real world is quite pesky.