Japanese develop world's first walking chair (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

view the video (subscription) at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm

("The Right Trousers" is the title of a Nick Park/Wallace & Grommitt film)

A text version is available from a South African source:

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=116&art_id=qw1069398181725B215&set_id=1

Tokyo - Japanese researchers on Friday unveiled the world's first two-legged walking robot, capable of carrying a human being, which many hope could prove a boon to wheelchair-bound people and help move heavy goods on uneven land.

The prototype robot, codenamed WL-16, took two years to develop in a joint project involving the science and engineering department of Tokyo's prestigious Waseda University and robot-maker Tmsuk, based Kita Kyushu.

The battery-powered robot, basically an aluminium street cafe chair mounted on two sets of telescopic poles bolted to flat plate 'feet', can move forwards, backwards and sideways while carrying an adult weighing a maximum of 60kg.

"I believe this biped robot, which I prefer to call a two-legged walking chair rather than a wheelchair, will eventually enable disabled people to go up and down the stairs," said Atsuo Takanishi, professor at Waseda's Science and Engineering Department.

http://www.iol.co.za/data/picdb//newspic3fbde6bea3a90

[benburch]

1. Dog bless them.

What a great thing to invent!

[htuttle]

2. And the first Giant Mecha-Robot is born!

I knew it would start in Japan...

[Liberal Dose]

3. Japanese my aching butt! 3 years ago - Dean Kamen

Dean Kamen, the well-known inventor whose credits include the Segway scooter, created the iBOT and licensed it to Johnson & Johnson. He says he built it not just for the stair-climbing ability but the extra elevation, too -- because wheelchair users had told him they longed to carry on eye-level conversations with people standing nearby, and reach top grocery shelves by themselves.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/08/14/stair.climbing.wheelchair.ap/

:hi:

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Thanks for the link. I know there are other "stair-climbing" wheelchairs

as well ... one from MIT, IIRC, even older.

The inventors are correct in that theirs is the first totally wheelless such device ... it is not a WHEELchair in any sense.

Good idea, bad idea, first, original ... :shrug: "We report, you decide."

[benburch]

6. I still want that cargo lifter Ripley had in Aliens...

Which was built by Caterpillar....

[bobja]

5. Dean Kamen's IBot already goes up and down stairs

And it's already on the market. Check it out:

http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/99/11/22/991122opmetcalfe.html