IF YOU see an elderly person bounding down your high street wearing what looks like a pneumatic diving suit, blame Hiroshi Kobayashi.
The roboticist, from the Science University of Tokyo, has designed a body suit that gives frail people the strength to get around much more easily, with greater control over their movements. He hopes his suit will become as ubiquitous as the Zimmer frame.
The project gets its inspiration from previous research into steel “exoskeletons” designed to help carers and nurses lift patients (Â鶹´«Ã½, 28 July 2001, p 22). While such devices still need hefty power sources,…
