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Bionic Nurses
Midnight Thunder writes "The Japanese have come up with a bionic suit designed to allow nurses to lift patients with out damaging their backs. This is just the sort of thing I need for lifting the monitors at work." And then there was mecha. Pretty cool idea - and maybe it could have helped Scoop.
Old japanese saying...
To sleep with nurse, one must be patient.
(Or was that confucious?)
now they can use them to hold you down with one hand while they give you a shot with the other.
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This seems to quite clearly put to shame all the designs for "powered soldiers" competeing for the recent DARPA specification. I wonder is it has anything to do with mecha permeating japanese culture? The only solace to be had on the US side of the pond is that nanotechnology seems to be permeating our pop culture.
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
Most of the engineers I knew at university seemed to be more interested in picking up the nurses, rather than vice-versa...
it trails an unwieldy thicket of cables and compressed-air lines
When I read the headline I though it was pretty sweet. I have spent the last 6 summers working at an ice plant and would have enjoyed the assistance of a suit (like in one of the Alien movies, don't recall which one). While I was in production at the ice plant, I would move 40 tons of ice a day, bag by bag. Then as a delivery driver, I delivered 6-10 tons of ice a day. So you can imagine my interest in a "power assist" suit! Guess I have to wait a while longer.
As a side note, I found this to be a wonderful addition to my geeky pursuits. Some people use sports or recreational activities to balance time in front of the screen, but I found that (should you hold a 9-5 type job), a simple and physical job keeps me in shape and is a nice change of pace. Whatever pays the old school bills.
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There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes. -- Dr. Who
There are two things involved in lifting heavy objects:
1) The actual lifting method, which is the main cause of back problems;
2) The carrying method.
If anyone's carried a heavy object and walked around with it, you'd understand what I mean.
Don't get me wrong. I think this suit will find uses, but mainly in the moving industry.
In medical jargon, a BW is short for a beached whale...or someone too fat for their own good. Some patients I have seen in the ER are just too goddamn heavy. Considering the proximity of a patient to the nurse, and the unbalanced mass, it's almost impossible to get in the power zone to lift someone properly. No wonder nurses hurt their backs.
/* ---- */
// Agent Green (Ian / IU7)
I think all the EMTs and Paramedics out in the field could benefit a lot more from this than nurses can. After all, nurses can summon the entire ER if it's necessary to safely move a patient. I can't say I've really known any EMTs who have made it long enough to retire just based on their backs.
// Agent Green (Ian / IU7 / KB1JQO)
// IEEE 802.3: All 10base Are Belong To Us
First, congratulations on being at MIT, although in the interest of appealing to a broader audience, I'll assume that when you write "further than us" what you mean is "than the U.S.," (even though this response actually deals with MIT).
From what I have seen, Japanese companies have (generally) focused on industrial scale robots with somewhat traditional methods of movement. They have been much work on large biped and quadriped robots, often with servos or linear hydraulic actuators as their primary methods of motion. The goal of many of these robots, it seems, is to allow humans to apply machine force and precision in industrial settings.
Academic research (both in the US and abroad), on the other hand, is focused (for the most part) more on advanced control control issues for for robots and innovative methods of actuation.
The MIT Leg Lab is one of the best known robotics lab in the U.S., and their work with active feedback, one legged locomotion, and gymnastic robots is still some of the most advanced robotic control system work being done. There is other work being done at MIT exploring polymers that shorten when electrical current is applied to them. Bundles of them could be used to build robotic "muscles" for more animal-like movement, or, in a far-off scenario, bionic replacements for damaged body parts.
There are several reasons it seems like Japanese companies are "ahead." Academic work involves a lot of simulation. Some of the best designed robots only exist in virtual worlds, simply because it's too expensive for academic institutions to construct them, purely for proof-of-concept research. Also, it's unclear that there's a difinitive "goal" for robotics. Industrial robotic design is aimed at factory/workplace automation. The Leg Lab is concerned with understanding legged locomotion in all its forms (both natural and invented). Sony is concerned with making a dog that can push around a little plastic ball. In short, it's tough to say someones "ahead," because everyone's going in different directions.
As an aside, it's dangerous to think of advanced research as an "us vs. them" race. This isn't cold war military work. Many research facilities, MIT included, operate off sponsored research funds from many international sources. Many of the students at U.S. institutions are not from the U.S.. Most importantly, the results of almost all academic research is openly shared. There isn't a nationalistic aspect to this research.
Yes, it seems like the Japanese produce more in the area of industrial, applied robotics than does the U.S., but that's only one aspect to "the robotics area."
"No....not THAT hard....NO.....ARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!"- ---------------------------------
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The best lack all conviction
While the worst are full of passionate intensity
{YEATS}
Very cool stuff though which could be useful in a number of professions. Hopefully, when these suits get cheap enough, we'll seem them protect much of the manual labor in industrial contries. Next task, how to help the worldwide working poor.