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Japan Automakers Look To Robots To Keep Elderly On the Move (reuters.com)
Japanese automakers are looking beyond the industry trend to develop self-driving cars and turning their attention to robots to help keep the country's rapidly graying society on the move. From a report: Toyota said it saw the possibility of becoming a mass producer of robots to help the elderly in a country whose population is ageing faster than the rest of the world as the birthrate decreases. The country's changing demographics place its automakers in a unique situation. Along with the issues usually associated with falling populations such as labor shortages and pension squeezes, Japan also faces dwindling domestic demand for cars. Toyota, the world's second largest automaker, made its first foray into commercializing rehabilitation robots on Wednesday, launching a rental service for its walk assist system, which helps patients to learn how to walk again after suffering strokes and other conditions.
I know this story is really about using devices to help keep older people mobile...
But I can't help that leading to thoughts of robot exoskeletons and all of the great things people could do with them, young and old.
One thing I'd like almost more than anything is some kind of lift suit - basically a suit you could put on to replace a forklift, and let you lift objects many times heavier than you are along with being able to walk them someplace else.
That could be useful for so many people, and still have your limbs moving as they would otherwise when moving or lifting so it would still help the elderly train... you could even dial in the amount of assistance the suit offered.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Anyone else picture robots chasing old people around?
Yeah, I think I've seen this before; doesn't go well if the old people want to go to the beach.
Fuck Robots
Sounds like you need Old Glory Insurance - for when the metal ones come for you.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Mister Roboto
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".