High-Tech Walkers Could Help Japan's Elderly Stay Independent

jfruh writes: You may have heard that Japan will deal with its aging population by relying more on robots. Osaka startup RT Works is showing what that might mean in practice: not humanoid robotic caregivers, but tech-enhanced versions of traditional tools like walkers. RT Works's walker automatically adjusts to help its user deal with hilly terrain, and can call for help if it moves outside a predefined range.

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Re:Disability Act

[techno-vampire]

In order to be useful to people using walkers or in wheelchairs, buildings need to have ramps instead of, or along with stairs. I don't know about the rest of Europe, but there's a good reason you don't find ramps in England: until recently, adding ramps meant that the Daleks could get in. Of course, now that Daleks can levitate, that's no longer an issue.