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Office Automation – livello avanzato
E
arly next year Europe will see Hal, the Japanese robot that can help
people regain the ability to walk. So says the inventor of the unit,
Yoshiyuki Sankai, a guest of honor at a conference organized at
Robotica, the automation trade fair in its third year in Milan.
Sankai, who works at the Cybernics Laboratory of the University of Tsukuba in
Japan and is recognized worldwide as a leading authority in the field of robotics,
talked about all the latest advances and applications made to the amazing
exoskeleton of a robot that is very different from those we are used to thinking
of, but one that has extraordinary possibilities. Listening to him in the conference
room in the halls of Rho-Pero were some of the best Italian scientists working in
the field of robotics, many people curious about new products, but also men and
women confined to wheelchairs who expect concrete assistance from robotics. At
the end, he was given a long round of applause by all in attendance.
Hal
, or Hybrid Assistive Limb (the reference to the super-brain of Space Odyssey
is obvious), is not a humanoid robot, with arms, legs and a head, nor is it a
device capable of moving or performing actions on its own. Instead it is a kind of
robotic suit, just an exoskeleton, which is mounted on people who have trouble
getting around. It may be used to help the legs, but also the arms or the torso,
and even to control the movement of the whole body.
It works thanks to the fact that the structure of the robot “holds” the limbs of
the wearer and moves with them. The joints hold motors that move the various
pieces, dragging the parts of the body, but the real trick is in the sensors. In
fact, Hal is able to understand what the wearer is doing because he feels the
movement of the body using sensors that are applied to the skin and transmit
commands to the suit. So when your leg is raised and moves forward all the
pieces of the robot do the same thing instantly helping the limb’s movement. At
the same time the suit notes the effort made by the wearer’s muscles and records
it so that doctors are able to know how the patient is doing and if they are
making progress. Hal is smart and really appears to be a device that works well in
all respects with the human body.
The results Sankai has obtained from his medical experiments are extraordinary.
People who have suffered a stroke can recover movements that seemed hopelessly
compromised, even four years after suffering an ischemic attack. Thanks to
Hal, a 50 year old man suffering from polio with a left leg that almost never
worked has managed a little at a time to stand up, move and even to retain his
balance on the affected leg. People who have suffered spinal injuries which
appeared to have completely taken away the use of their legs have slowly found
the coordination to get up and balance themselves using only crutches. Even a
person with Parkinson’s who had been forced to stay seated or in bed was able to
regain control of his body thanks to Sankai’s robotic suit, to the great surprise of
the doctors. “Using Hal changes the way the patient’s brain is activated,” says the
scientist, showing images of the signals recorded with neuroimaging equipment.
HAL, THE
RObOT THAT
HELPS PEOPLE
TO gET bACK
ON THEIR FEET
Hal in the world
Currently in Japan there are 250 of his creations in circulation, used in 110
hospitals and treatment centers. In January, they will finally be available on
our continent in Sweden and Austria. Cost? Not too much: about
€
1,500 per
month. But each device can be used by 5 patients per day. Reckoned in this
way, each session using Hal costs less than
€
15. But figures like these make
it clear that this is paving the way for robots to become personal prostheses.
GloSSarY
Hal:
Hybrid
Assistive Limb.
Source: ilsole24ore
Hal and Milan
All told, Hal is a powerful
device to help with the
rehabilitation of limb
movement. When he was
born, some years ago now,
he was bigger and much
bulkier, truly a suit of armor
that could almost make
you smile when mounted
on people, but over time
the size has been reduced
more and more, each piece
has been miniaturized and
today it could easily be
hidden under a suit. But the
Japanese scientist is not
content, and has announced
that the next challenge is
that of integrating the device
into the wearer’s clothes.
“Maybe by working together
with the great Italian tailors
here in Milan,” he says
with the hint of a smile,
explaining that the batteries
are getting smaller and
easier to replace.