Futurist Foresight

Another step closer for exoskeletons as Japan`s HAL gets a global safety certificate.

neurosciencestuff:

Japan’s Robot Suit Gets Global Safety Certificate

A robot suit that can help the elderly or disabled get around was given its global safety certificate in Japan on Wednesday, paving the way for its worldwide rollout.

The Hybrid Assistive Limb, or HAL, is a power-assisted pair of legs developed by Japanese robot maker Cyberdyne, which has also developed similar robot arms.

A quality assurance body issued the certificate based on a draft version of an international safety standard for personal robots that is expected to be approved later this year, the ministry for the economy, trade and industry said.

The metal-and-plastic exoskeleton has become the first nursing-care robot certified under the draft standard, a ministry official said.

Battery-powered HAL, which detects muscle impulses to anticipate and support the user’s body movements, is designed to help the elderly with mobility or help hospital or nursing carers to lift patients.

Cyberdyne, based in Tsukuba, northeast of Tokyo, has so far leased some 330 suits to 150 hospitals, welfare and other facilities in Japan since 2010, at 178,000 yen ($1,950) per suit per year.

“It is very significant that Japan has obtained this certification before others in the world,” said Yoshiyuki Sankai, the head of Cyberdyne.

The company is unrelated to the firm of the same name responsible for the cyborg assassin played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1984 film “The Terminator”.

“This is a first step forward for Japan, the great robot nation, to send our message to the world about robots of the future,” said Sankai, who is also a professor at Tsukuba University.

A different version of HAL — coincidentally the name of the evil supercomputer in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” — has been developed for workers who need to wear heavy radiation protection as part of the clean-up at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

Industrial robots have long been used in Japan, and robo-suits are gradually making inroads into hospitals and retirement homes.

But critics say the government has been slow in creating a safety framework for such robots in a country whose rapidly-ageing population is expected to enjoy ever longer lives.

(via futurecurious)

Another step towards robotic assistance with this exoskeleton suit.

beyondsingularity:

The Robot Suit HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) has been designed and built by Cyberdyne Inc. with assistance from researchers around the country. It’s described by its makers as a cyborg-type robot meant to supplement human muscles or to assist in their rehabilitation. Its part handrail, part sensor and part hydraulically controlled machinery. A patient stands between two handrails, holding on, while sensors are affixed to the skin of the legs. The sensors pick up nerve signals which are sent to an onboard computer. Those signals are then converted to action by small motors and power units that cause the muscle to be worked in the same way it would be were the person’s body able to move it on their own. The end result is a direct connection between nerve signals and movement, which the researchers believe, will result in faster and perhaps better recovery for the patient.

I’m sure that this exoskeleton would have many applications in military logistics and transport and shipping everywhere.

stoweboyd:

laughingsquid:

Power Loader Exoskeleton Robots Under Development in Japan

Remember Sigourney Weaver playing Ripley in Aliens, wearing a ‘power loader’ while fighting the mother alien?

 

Science fiction becomes science fact, once again.

Exoskeleton suit gives man chance to walk again

Cutting edge technology has a Darien man taking miraculous steps.

He was paralyzed after he was struck by a car while riding his bike, training for an ironman four years ago.

Mike Loura was beaming as he was walking and showcasing this amazing robotic exoskeleton technology. He was doing something he never imagined he’d be able to do again.

“Ever since the accident all the doctors said you’re never going to walk again,” Loura said.

However, the husband and father of two girls is walking again. Thursday was day 15, the day Loura strapped on the wearable robot, a breakthrough technology, but it’s the first time he’s taking steps for others to see.

“Every time I take a step I kinda have to balance myself in a certain position for the machine to know that it’s ready to take the next step,” said Loura.

“It has an exoskeleton system with battery powered motor that allows someone who can’t feel and can’t move,” said Dr. David Rosenblum, “who’s paralyzed, the ability to go from sit to stand to actually taking steps.”

Dr. Rosenblum is the medical director of Rehabilitation at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare, the only center in Connecticut to offer the Ekso Bionics’ Robotic Exoskeleton technology to patients with spinal chord injuries.

“We’re using it as a tool to work on balance to get someone up and moving,” said Dr. Rosenblum. “From a wellness perspective to improve their quality of life.”

(via beyondsingularity)

joshbyard:

Real-Life Italian Robotic Exoskeleton Increases Wearer’s Strength 20x

Once the preserve of science fiction, increasingly sophisticated robotic devices are vying for a place side by side with humans in the real world. Researchers are currently working on a Body Extender robot at the Perceptual Robotics Laboratory at Sant’Anna University in Pisa, Italy. The exoskeleton or “body extender”, a prototype costing millions is a armour suit weighing 160 kilos which multiplies the strength of its human user 20 times.

[read more] [Sant’Anna University] [video (embedding is disabled)]

(via Researchers Develop Body Extender Suit ht futurescope ht 33rdsquare)

futurescope:

Combat Exoskeleton Marches Toward Afghanistan Deployment

Lockheed appears to be on track for deploying combat versions of the HULC exoskeleton into Afghanistan in early 2013 or even late in 2012.

The HULC can assist speed marching at up to 7 mph reduces this somewhat; a battery-draining “burst” at 10mph is the maximum speed

A soldier with a pack would normally go at 3 mph maximum and cover 10-12 miles in a day. Exoskeleton Soldiers could also carry lightweight foldable electric scooters on their exoskeleton that would enable 60-100 mph on roads. If the bike had motocross like capabilities it could still go about 30-60 mph on rougher terrain.

[read more @wired @nextbigfuture]

(via futurescope)

futurescope:

Exoskeletons Will Be the Eyeglasses of the 21st Century

We don’t often realize it, but all fashion is predicated upon human beings’ predilection for prostheses and augmentations. All clothing, bags, and shoes are augmentation to our body, skin, and feet allowing us to deal with non-tropical climates, to carry large amounts of stuff, and to deal with harsh or unforgiving terrain. If humans hadn’t already modified ourselves, the only fashion we’d have is hairstyle. […]

[more @ discoverymagazine]

(via futurescope)