Honda Unveils Robotic Walker

A user tackles stairs using Honda's assisted walking device.

Honda Motor Company, Tokyo, Japan, has unveiled a wearable robotic walker designed to help auto workers do their jobs with less fatigue. According to Honda, "The device is designed for people who are capable of walking and maneuvering on their own, but who can benefit from additional leg and body support while performing tasks. Honda will now begin testing the device in real-world conditions to evaluate its effectiveness."

The assisted-walking device includes a seat that would look at home on a bicycle, a pair of shoes, and a jointed, microprocessor-controlled, mechanical lift system in between. Wearers sit on the seat, tuck their feet into the shoes, press a button, and start walking. During the walking process, the 14 lb. device partially supports the wearer's body weight and assists each foot as it rises off the floor. It can help the user ascend stairs, holds the full body weight when not walking, and allows the wearer to comfortably work in a semi-crouched position. Honda plans to begin testing a prototype of the device in its Saitama factory by the end of 2009, though it has announced no plans to build the walker commercially. Honda engineer Jun Ashihara told the Associated Press that the battery-powered machine "should be as easy to use as a bicycle.... It reduces stress, and you should feel less tired."

The device is one of several wearable assistive devices recently unveiled in Japan, whose rapidly aging population offers a potentially lucrative market. Cyberdyne, Tokyo, has produced and begun renting in the Japanese market a robotic suit called HAL [hybrid assistive limb] that reads myoelectric signals to amplify the strength of wearers' movements from 200 to 1000 percent. Honda also offers a similar, though simpler, device that straps around a user's waist and legs to provide walking assistance to weakened leg muscles. That device, which Honda simply calls its "walking assist device" is currently being tested at Kasumigaseki-Minami Hospital, Kawagoe, Saitama. It is intended specifically to help survivors of stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), and other conditions that weaken the leg muscles.