 |
HAL-5 Exoskeleton To Carry Mountain Climber
HAL-5 (Hybrid Assistive Leg), the robotic exoskeleton developed to help humans lift and carry a greater load, will now help cary a Japanese quadtiplegic to the top of a moutain.
 |
"We developed the exo-skeleton type power assist system to realize the walking aid for the gait disorder person.
At the present time, HAL is state of the art power assist system in the world.
Some sensors such as angle sensors, myoelectrical sensors, floor sensors etc. are adopted in order to obtain the condition of the HAL and the operator.
All of the motordrivers, measurement system, computer, wireless LAN, and power supply are built in the backpack.
Using the battery attached on the waist, HAL works as the complete wearable system." Prof. Sankai, Univ. of Tsukuba / CYBERDYNE Inc |
(HAL-5 endoskeleton system)
Seiji Uchida, paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a 1983 traffic accident, will take a cable car to a point close to the summit of Breithorn, a 1,164-metre Swiss peak. Alpine mountaineer Ken Noguchi will carry him to the top, with the assistance of the HAL-5 exoskeleton.
HAL provides enough additional strength to lift an additional eighty kilograms of weight. The trek is planned for this summer.
Robotic exoskeletons have played a part in science fiction stories for decades. In his 1968 novel A Specter is Haunting Texas, science fiction writer Fritz Leiber describes specialized exoskeletons used to help human beings who grew up under microgravity conditions survive on the Earth's surface:
This truly magnificient, romantically handsome, rather lean man was standing on two corrugated-soled titanium footplates. From the outer edge of each rose a narrow titanium T-beam that followed the line of his leg, with a joint (locked now) at the knee, up to another joint with a titanium pelvic girdle and shallow belly support. From the back of this girdle a T-spine rose to support a shoulder yoke and rib cage, all of the same metal. The rib cage was artistically slotted to save weight, so that curving strips followed the line of each of his very prominent ribs....The motors were controlled by myoelectric impulses from his ghost muscles transmitted by sensitive pickups buried in the foam-padded bands.
(Read more about the titanium exoskeleton)
Note that the 1968 fictional exoskeleton used myoelectric sensors in the bands holding the user to actuate movement, just like the 2006 real-life version.
Update: It turns out that Uchida was partly successful in making the climb:
But Uchida, who rode piggyback on a friend who was aided by a motorized exoskeleton, said he viewed getting to within 500 yards of the mountaintop as a triumph."Today ... I had the same feeling as when I saw the pictures of the Breithorn for the first time: I was overwhelmed," Uchida said after his return to a base station on the Klein Matterhorn.
Uchida said through an interpreter that he was grateful he "had the chance to realize my dreams of climbing it, thanks to the suit."
(Via Japanese quadriplegic partly succeeds in robot-assisted ascent of Swiss mountain)
They covered about two miles before having to turn back due to time considerations. End update.
See also the earlier article HAL-5 Robot Suit. Read more about robot suit to help quadriplegic scale the heights. Thanks to Winchell Chung for the tip and suggested sf references for the story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/4/2006)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 8 )
Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
Blaux Your Personal Commuter Cooling Unit
A cooling unit had to be strapped to every commuter's back, by law.
SunnyFive 'Window' Has Full Spectrum Angled Natural Light
'On the ceilings are screens.' - Stanislaw Lem, 1961.
Liftware Level, Google's Smart Spoon
'The result was indeed marvelous... I did not stagger and I did not reel.' - Ellis Parker Butler, 1926.
Prufrock The Newest Boring Machine
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm...'
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
TytoCare Offers Futuristic Home Care
'Immediately an enormous apparatus fell on to her out of the ceiling...'
Powdered Regolith Propulsion
'... filling their great tanks with the finely divided dust which the ionic rockets would spit out in electrified jets.'
Ford's SafeCap, Opposite Of Niven and Barnes' Napcap
'In the napcap a client became an instant yoga master...'
Would You Get 'Chipped'? Michigan May Ban Employers
'Employees above a certain level were implanted with advanced microprocessors...'
Tesla Autopilot: What Does An Autonomous Car See When It Looks At The Road?
'Jeremiah is a sports-model to begin with and that kind is awfully hot-tempered.'
DNA Controls Swarms Of Molecular Robots
'They exist in loose swarms...'
Tether Asteroids To Save Us All
'If anything can glue the asteroids back into the planet they once were, magnology will do it.'
Blaux Your Personal Commuter Cooling Unit
A cooling unit had to be strapped to every commuter's back, by law.
3D Printed Damascus Steel Now Possible
'...lined with durite, that strange close-packed laboratory product.'
R9X Hellfire Missile With Long Blades Kills Queda Leader
'He was still roaring when the knife missile flicked past him...'
Would You Swallow An Origami Robot?
'Swallow it in an emergency--it goes down easily and works just as well inside as outside.'
Perhaps You Might Be Interested In Habitable Exoplanet Moon Real Estate
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
Blurry Face Photos Made 60 Times Sharper
Perfect tool for blade runners.
SpaceX Will Build Floating Spaceports!
'...a single perfectly level platform, which rose so high above the water that it was not splashed by the waves.'
Fast Radio Bursts And Space Beacons For Interstellar Navigation
'Every beacon has a code signal as part of its radiation...'
Robot Garbage Trucks Visualized
'It was a bulky, shining cylinder over twenty metres long.'
