Sankai Yoshiyuki, a professor at Tsukuba University, and President and CEO of Cyberdine, Inc is the inventor of "HAL", a wearable strap-on Cybor-robotic exoskeleton that can expand and improve physical capability.
When a person attempts to move, nerve signals are sent from the brain to the muscles via motoneuron, moving the musculoskeletal system as a consequence. At this moment, very weak biosignals can be detected on the surface of the skin. "HAL" catches these signals through a sensor attached on the skin of the wearer. Based on the signals obtained, the power unit is controlled to move the joint unitedly with the wearer's muscle movement, enabling to support the wearer's daily activities. This is what we call a 'voluntary control system' that provides movement interpreting the wearer's intention from the biosignals in advance of the actual movement. Not only a 'voluntary control system' "HAL" has, but also a 'robotic autonomous control system' that provides human-like movement based on a robotic system which integrally work together with the 'autonomous control system'. "HAL" is the world's first cyborg-type robot controlled by this unique Hybrid System.
"HAL" is expected to be applied in various fields such as rehabilitation support and physical training support in medical field, ADL support for disabled people, heavy labour support at factories, and rescue support at disaster sites, and in the entertainment field.
Cyberdine has just shown a broader range of its HAL robots--strap-on exoskeletons that boost a user's strength with electric motors. As well as the headline-grabbing medical version (below), there's an industrial edition and an arm-booster for repetitive tasks.
These technologies belong to the new field of cybernics, in which Professor Sankai is a pioneer.
"The word cybernics comes from cybernetics, mechatronics, and informatics. But this field also requires neurology, behavioral science, robotics, IT, physiology, and psychology. It also involves law, so it even extends as far as the social sciences. We're going to develop this field by looking at all perspectives, from fundamental research to the real world."
Cyberdyne's HAL legs have been gaining attention for a while now, thanks to the fact that they offer an astonishingly promising medical boost to certain types of patients with reduced mobility. Also, they're actually being used in the field as a commercial product. Just before the Japanese earthquake struck last week, Cyberdine was exhibiting at the Cybernics International Forum and demonstrated an increased range of HAL systems, including a full body-assist suit and a "lite" HAL version intended for single-arm boosting in industrial situations.
The HAL system is an off-shoot of research at Tsukuba university by professor Sankai, and he spoke to DigInfoTV at the Cybernics forum to explain the thinking behind the robot: Most interesting among the discussions was the fact that the robotic full-body suit, which is capable of letting an operator lift weights and maneuver objects that would otherwise be at or beyond their own physical limits, is aimed at industrial manufacturing needs. As the average worker's age increases, this could be a very good thing.
As an offshoot of the technology, Sankai also imagines there would be uses in fields such as gaming in the future--the suit could contribute to in-game experiences, and the clever way it works (by reading electrical signals in muscles) could even be used to record "human techniques and skills" so that the information could be saved.
HAL's not the only robotic exoskeleton suit.
- Berkeley Bionics developed eLEGS, an artificially intelligent bionic exoskeleton that helps paraplegics to walk, and when it was first unveiled, created quite a stir throughout the tech community. Everyone wondered: Could this be the big breakthrough that gets wheelchair users back onto their feet?
- Lockheed Martin developed HULC, a titanium hydraulic-powered "anthropomorphic exoskeleton" that may ultimately go a little way toward transforming soldiers into superhumans.
In the light of the ongoing disaster in Japan one can't help but wonder if, in the future, rescue efforts will be ameliorated by clever robots like these. Lifting sections of a collapsed building would be much simpler for cyber-assisted rescuers.
COMMENTARY: Wow, that's impressive. I have been researching robotics for the last two years for business opportunities, and it appears that the science of robotics has now advanced from the laboratory into real world applications where it can enhance and aid mankind. These robotic exoskeleton suits are great examples.
The robotics industry is divided into two segments:
- Industrial Robots - Robots used for industrial and manufacturing purposes and includes articulated robots, cylindrical robots, linear robots (including cartesian and gantry robots), parallel robots and SCARA robots. Industrial robots are heavily used in manufacturing assembly lines like those in the automotive and electronics industries, consumer packaged goods industries, and in the shipping and transportation industry.
- Service Robots - Robots used for personal private use, includes domestic household robots, entertainment and leisure (toys, hobby systems and education and training) robots, and bionic robots for assisting the handicapped.
Industrial Robots
According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the industrial robots sold in 2009 decreased by 39% or $3.8 billion due to a worldwide decline in manufacturing due to the recession. It should be noted that the figures cited above generally do not include the cost of software, peripherals and systems engineering. This may result in the actual robotic systems market value to be about two or three times as large. The world market for robot systems in 2009 is therefore estimated to be $12 billion. Industrial robots are expected to recover in 2010 as the world economies recover from the recession.
In terms of units, it is estimated that the worldwide stock of operational industrial robots will increase from about 1,020,700 units at the end of 2009 to 1,119,800 at the end of 2013, representing an average annual growth rate of less than 1% between 2011 and 2013. In 2010, the stock will increase by 7%. In the traditional markets: North America, Japan, and Western Europe, the stock is stagnating or decreasing while it is surging in the emerging markets
Service Robots
According to the IFR, the total value of professional service robots sold up to the end of 2009 was $13.2 billion. Service robots for personal and private use: about 5.6 million units for domestic use and about 3.1 million units for entertainment and leisure sold up to end of 2009.
So far, service robots for personal and domestic use are mainly in the areas of domestic (household) robots, which include vacuum cleaning and lawn-mowing robots, and entertainment and leisure robots, including robotic toys, hobby systems and education and training robots.
The market for robots for handicap assistance is still small, but is expected to increase substantially in the next 10 years. Robots for personal transportation and home security and surveillance robots will also increase in importance in the future.
Courtesy of an article dated March 16, 2011 appearing in Fast Company, DigInfo TV and Cyberdine
How far have they come with eLEGS now? The big question is how much and when will it be available to the public?
Posted by: SCG | 01/11/2013 at 08:26 PM
Hai, this is RajKumar from Chennai India. I am interested to know, learn and probably built a super robot, just as in the movie Avatar where the colonel wears a human kind of robot to boos his power. Can you tell me where these can be found on the internet?
Posted by: M.S.RajKumar | 12/04/2012 at 05:08 AM