(Credit:
Panasonic)
Panasonic has created a robotic bed that can transform into a wheelchair, allowing the elderly or people with disabilities to get up without assistance.
Users can remain in the bed while it turns into a wheelchair. Half of the mattress rises and half lowers while a motorized unit beneath it automatically slides out from the bed.
While in chair mode, the robot can detect people and obstacles and help users avoid collisions, according to Panasonic.
A controller allows for driving and returning to the bed.
The mattress can also help people turn over in bed to prevent bedsores.
The bed's robotic canopy automatically rises when the unit transforms. It has a screen that acts as TV, controller for home appliances, and home security camera viewer.
The bed is one of many new mobility solutions to help the aging Japanese population stay mobile.
They include Rodem, an ergonomic electric wheelchair, Toyota's thought-controlled wheelchair, and the Hybrid Assistive Limb, a robotic power suit.
And let's not forget Riba, the giant teddy bear robotic nurse that can lift a person from a bed and deposit him or her into a wheelchair.
I think the next logical step in this Japanese arc of invention is the creation of a giant teddy bear bed that transforms into a thought-controlled wheelchair.
Panasonic will show off its prototype Robotic Bed later this month at the International Home Care & Rehabilitation Exhibition 2009 in Tokyo.
(Via Digital World Tokyo)
This next-gen electric wheelchair operates for about four hours per charge.
(Credit: Veda International Robot R&D Center)Sometimes function can successfully follow form. That may be the case for Japan's Veda International Robot R&D Center, whose electric wheelchair for the immobile and elderly might be giving scooters and electric cars a little competition in the looks department.
The "universal vehicle" Rodem (model number M1-1) operates for about four hours per charge. My favorite feature, though, is the accelerator (of course, in electric vehicles, there are no "ignitions" or "gas pedals"), which a very smart person decided should come in the form of a joystick, thereby titillating the gamers of younger generations. (I also enjoy picturing my 91-year-old grandmother navigating by joystick.)
Of course, the "high" speed of the Rodem M1-1 is 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) per hour, so when it comes to giving electric cars and scooters a run for their money, well, this is more likely to be a toy for wealthy mall rats (they should hire Paris Hilton) than anyone aiming to look cute on the street.
So beyond being electric, what makes this next-generation wheelchair, well, next-gen? Ergonomics. Because riders sit in a more upward position, taking a seat from behind and relaxing forward, it is both easier to mount and friendlier on the lower back--not to mention on caregivers the world over:
When a wheelchair is used, an elderly or disabled person has to go through seven processes, sitting up on the bed, leaning forward, leaving the bed, turning his or her back to the wheelchair, sitting on the seat, sitting up on the seat and moving backward...It is possible to ride on the Rodem through three processes, which are sitting up on the bed, leaning forward and leaving the bed, reducing the burden on caregivers.
Veda International plans to select a partner company to mass-produce these for an autumn 2009 release at about 500,000 to 700,000 yen, or $5,300 to $7,500--a pop.
(Credit:
PopSci.com)
Last week, we told you about Mindflex, a Mattel toy that lets players move objects with their brains. This week comes word that the same technology is making its way into a more functional application--a wheelchair that users can maneuver with thought alone.
Toyota has developed the wheelchair in collaboration with researchers in Japan. The system analyzes brain wave data using signal-processing technology and delivers neuro-feedback to the driver.
Brain wave-detecting technology, or electroencephalography (EEG), isn't new. In layman's terms, a device, usually a cap wired with sensors, detects a person's brain waves. That information is analyzed by a computer and applied to the device in question. Scientists have pursued the technology for decades, but have had difficulty achieving short response times, explains the Associated Press.
Toyota's mind-controlled wheelchair, however, has what appears to be the quickest response time yet: 125 milliseconds, or 125 thousandths of a second. The user can almost instantly steer right, left, and forward. To stop, the person in the chair must puff up a cheek, a motion that's then detected by the headpiece.
Because of this quick response time, plans are under way to turn the wheelchair into a commercial health care product. The most practical use would be for rehabilitation patients who have been paralyzed, suffered a stroke, or have other conditions that hinder their muscle control. So far, the research has centered on brain waves related to imaginary hand and foot control. However, Toyota hopes the system could ultimately be applied to brain waves generated by emotions.
... Read moreOK. Maybe not everything in today's show is super cute, but it gives the ladies the chance to speak in exaggerated falsettos. Jason, on the other hand, balances all the cute with an unintentionally awkward joke about one of the newest segments. Oh, you'll see.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
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EPISODE 127 |
Candy Comfort Earphones are comfy and kitschy
PBS Sprout makes iPhone apps for preschoolers
Yuruppy, a virtual-pet petting gizmo
Australian IT expert invents the shoe phone
Could the Bra Dryer save your lingerie?
... Read moreThis may be the best thing since the invention of the electric wheelchair.
A group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has invented a wheelchair with all the self-navigating abilities of a GPS device.
Nicholas Roy (left) and Seth Teller demonstrate the navigating wheelchair.
(Credit: Patrick Gillooly/MIT)Only instead of being inhibited by the need for a satellite signal like a GPS device, MIT said Friday, the location-aware wheelchair uses Wi-Fi and can work indoors.
Just like with a GPS navigator, the wheelchair has programmed favorites. Better yet, it works by voice recognition so you don't have to type in a request.
All you have to say is "to the boardroom" or "to the kitchen," and the wheelchair will self-navigate from wherever you are to wherever you want to go. It works via a network of Wi-Fi nodes that must be present in the building it navigates. But the chair does not require a detailed, computer-generated map of the entire building upfront. It can learn which places are important and where they are located by being taken on an initial "tour."
The wheelchairs are already being tested in the real world. About 100 people and their caregivers at the Boston Home in Dorchester, Mass., a facility for those with multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases, are trying out the system.
The autonomous wheelchair is the collaboration of Nicholas Roy, assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT; Seth Teller, professor of computer science and electrical engineering and head of the Robotics, Vision, and Sensor Networks group at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; and Bryan Reimer, a research scientist at MIT's AgeLab. The project has been funded by Microsoft and Nokia.
In addition to creating the wheelchair, the group is also working on other location-aware objects such as cell phones and forklifts.
(Credit:
TankChair)
There's a new baddie wheelchair on the horizon, with rubberized tracks instead of standard wheels that makes it look more like a miniature Terminator 2 hunter killer tank than any of its conventional cousins. An improved model of the original TankChair, the MK II offers a lower center of gravity, more torque, and a stronger chassis--not to mention a full-height chair with abundant cushioning to smoothen a bumpy ride.
The initial TankChair was conceived two years ago for the designer's disabled wife, who is an avid lover of the outdoors, according to Register Hardware. This prompted a design that's capable of traversing difficult terrains such as streams, mud, snow, sand, and gravel. As a side note, the company's is donating a TankChair to a rural U.S. fire station for every 10 sold.
(Source: Crave Asia)
Suzuki knows that alternative fuels aren't just for cars. So the Japanese company is turning its eco-friendly eye toward a new market: wheelchairs.
Gizmag says a prototype "fuel cell wheelchair" is in the works, using methanol to generate hydrogen and then electricity. It adds that, with a range of up to 25 miles, the wheelchair would help allay fears of getting stranded.
It's good to see that alternative energy research is going toward vehicles other than golf carts.
(Photo: Gizmag)
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