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Science & Technology
Japan Robot Suit Gets Global Safety Certificate
2013-02-28
[An Nahar] 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.
Posted by:Fred

#11  I think you're right Barbara. Too bad. It would be great to see my friend walk again - and a hell of a lot of other people as well. Maybe in a few years, who can say?
Posted by: Secret Master   2013-02-28 21:36  

#10  Unfortunately, a look at the picture makes me doubt that, SM. It looks more like a leg brace - I expect you'd need the use of your legs for it to work.

But that's just a guess.
Posted by: Barbara   2013-02-28 18:48  

#9  The hell with a suit like that.

Where are my Elementals?!?!?!?

Posted by: DarthVader   2013-02-28 18:42  

#8  I wonder how well it would work for people who are crippled? I have a buddy who lost the use of his legs in a motorcycle accident. I wonder if it would help him?
Posted by: Secret Master   2013-02-28 16:39  

#7  Piece of crap.
I want the one with super-duper neodymium magnets that can leap over a tall building....etc, etc, etc.
Posted by: bigjim-CA   2013-02-28 12:57  

#6  "Whadda ya mean, no built-in machine guns? What kind of cheap-jack super-suit is this?"
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226   2013-02-28 11:25  

#5  They should call the suit for Fukashima the HEV suit...

http://sectorw.wikia.com/wiki/HEV_Suit
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2013-02-28 09:45  

#4  Joint venture with the UK's milsat comms system?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2013-02-28 09:43  

#3  Cyberdyne, eh?
Either someone is really funny, or not the least bit funny at all.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2013-02-28 09:32  

#2  And a SUPER Army suit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2013-02-28 09:04  

#1  Yeah-h-h riiight, dats what dey ALL say!

lol.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2013-02-28 01:34  

00:00