The robot suits detect natural electrical currents that pass over the surface of the skin anticipating muscle movement
© AFP Yoshikazu Tsuno TSUKUBA, Japan (AFP) - "The time has come to introduce this technology to the world," Yoshiyuki Sankai, a professor at Tsukuba University near Tokyo, announced at a news conference.
Sankai's company producing the robot suits is named Cyberdyne Inc., the same as the sci-fi office in the "Terminator" films. But there is no risk of Arnold Schwarzenegger's character coming to blow it up.
"I believe technology becomes useful only when it works for people," he said at Cyberdyne's new office. "I refuse any possible military use of my robot suits."
Cyberdyne will start leasing this week 500 units of the battery-powered robot suit to assist paralysed patients at hospitals and rehabilitation centres.
Sankai showed video footage of a man paralysed to the waist down standing and walking as he wore the robotic limbs.
The robot suits -- dubbed HAL, or "Hybrid Assistive Limb" -- detect natural electrical currents that pass over the surface of the skin anticipating muscle movement.
HAL, which weighs 11 kilograms (24 pounds), then automatically moves the muscle in the way the person intended.
"You don't feel the weight of the robot at all," said Takashi Hama, an executive official of Daiwa House Industry Co., a Japanese construction firm investing into Cyberdyne.
Another prototype of HAL allows the wearer to carry 100 pounds even though it feels like just a few pounds.
"We are looking at the future use of the robot suits at construction sites, where workers have to carry heavy materials," Hama said.
©AFP