AP Photo/With Dreams, HO
June 14, 2006 | Post Archive
Why is Japan working so hard to create new, more advanced robots, you ask? According to an article in Reuters, the Japanese like to keep foreign laborers -- who typically work for less -- out of their country. But that presents a problem: the country’s workforce is shrinking more every year and their population is getting older. So old, in fact, that there might be too many elderly citizens and not enough care givers. That’s where robots come in.
A government report stated that by 2015, robotic health care could be as much as a $10-billion industry. Until recent years, the driving force behind developments in robotics mostly had to do with industry and factories. But today’s robot developers, especially in Japan, are turning their minds to bots for the workplace, medical facilities and the home.
One such development, HAL 5 (Hybrid Assisted Limb), is a special bionic suit, built to strengthen its wearer for everyday tasks like walking, lifting—and simply, for some, the ability to stand. The white, storm-trooper-looking suit doesn’t cover one’s entire body (and no, there’s no sweet helmet or Imperial Speeder Bike involved). It straps onto the wearer’s back, arms and legs. The suit operates on what’s called a bio-cybernic system, which is a series of bio-electric sensors and machines working together. The electric sensors read signals sent from the brain to the muscles and allocate them via computer to the appropriate motors.
Previous generation suits, like the HAL 3 and 4, weighed about 50 and 40 pounds respectively. The HAL team hopes to make lighter suits, but HAL 5, the most recent version, weighs closer to HAL 3, weighing in at 47 pounds. But that’s not a big deal, because the suit supports itself.
Perhaps the coolest part about HAL 5 is that it makes its wearer stronger. According to its developer, a person capable of leg pressing 176 pounds was able to press an additional 220 pounds with the suit on. The suit provides 90 pounds of extra lifting power.
In addition to giving strength to the elderly, the suit could be worn by care givers—lifting and moving patients would be significantly easier, thereby reducing the number of workers needed. The possibilities for other uses from the military to law enforcement abound. Impressive, to say the least.
Another team of developers is working on what they call the “Walkbot,” a bipedal robot that does the walking for you. The Walkbot has two hydraulic legs that can climb or descend stairs, inclines and challenging terrain. The user sits atop the Walkbot with legs supported and controls its movement with two joysticks. Due to weight and speed limitations, the Walkbot won’t be available to the consumer market for another five years.
