*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) TOKYO, Japan - August 5, 2009: Employees of a Japanese robotics company have been showing off a rehabilitation suit designed to help people with mobility problems on the streets of downtown Tokyo.
A Japanese company has unveiled a robotic suit that is designed to help people with weak limbs or limited physical range to walk and move like an able-bodied person. People with disabilities can hire the suit at a cost of Y220,000 (£1,370) per month.
Cyberdyne said its 10 kilogram HAL—short for hybrid assistive limb—is equipped with sensors that read brain signals directing limb movement through the skin.Wearing HAL, the three people took an hour-long train ride Monday from Tsukuba, north of the Japanese capital, to downtown Tokyo.
“HAL is to help people with weak leg muscles and mobility problems ... We wanted to show HAL is very useful for our daily life,” said company official Takatoshi Kuno.Belted to the waist, HAL relays brain signals to mechanical leg braces strapped to the thighs and knees, which then provide robotic assistance to people with weak limbs.
HAL comes in three sizes—small, medium and large—and has a one-leg version for a 150,000 yen monthly rental fee, while a two-leg unit goes for 220,000 yen a month. It was unclear when HAL would go on sale to the public or what the price tag will be.
The robotics company declined to say how much it cost to manufacture HAL.
Cyberdyne said the United States and some European nations have expressed interest, but it did not elaborate further.
HAL may have far-reaching benefits for the disabled and elderly. Japan is grappling with a rapidly aging society. About one-fifth of the population of 128 million is 65 or older, and that figure is expected to double in the next 30 years.
ker buster" bomb, amid international concern over underground nuclear sites in Iran and North Korea.
The Pentagon has asked Congress for extra money to ensure that the massive ordinance penetrator (MOP) would be ready by July 2010, spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters.
"The department has asked for reprogramming of about 68 million dollars to start production for some of these in 2009," Whitman said. "This will help it accelerate some if it's approved."
The weapon, weighing in at 30,000 pounds (13,600 kilograms) and carrying 5,300 pounds (2,400 kilograms) of explosives, would be delivered by the radar-evading B-2 Stealth bomber.
The MOP is seen as a potential weapon against nuclear facilities in Iran and North Korea that are mostly buried underground.
Washington has demanded that both countries abandon their nuclear programs and has refused to rule out possible military action.
Whitman declined to say why the military wanted to accelerate production or whether the move was designed to pile pressure on Iran.
He said the Pentagon since 2004 had been looking at developing weapons "that would allow us to go after more hardened, more deeply buried targets."
He mentioned that Pyongyang has sought to conceal its nuclear activities. "One of the ways you hide is by going underground" and fortifying sites, he said.
Boeing builds the MOP, which could become the biggest conventional bomb ever used by the U.S. military.
During a visit to the Middle East last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that Washington's diplomatic outreach to Iran was not open-ended and said Tehran had until September to respond or else face tougher sanctions.
Many in the international community, including the U.S. and Israel, widely considered the Middle East's sole - if undeclared - nuclear power, suspect Iran is trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, a charge Tehran has denied.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula meanwhile have soared following Pyongyang's recent missile and nuclear tests, which resulted in tougher U.N. sanctions and a renewed standoff with the U.S.
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