Abstract- 20200201- 5

People in Japan are Wearing Exoskeletons

An EcoChi Vital Abstract

This article was published December 12, 2019, written by Alice Klein, New Scientist.

Japan’s population is rapidly ageing, with a record 28 per cent of people aged 65 or older. This has led to a shortage of workers, particularly in manual labor industries such as construction, manufacturing and farming. The suit, which is worn like a backpack, doesn’t contain any batteries or motors and weighs less than 4 kilograms. When users put it on, they squeeze a hand pump 30 times to fill the suit’s “artificial muscles” with pressurized air. Once pumped up, the artificial muscles allow people to lift up to 25 kilograms, says Orihara. They need to be re-inflated with the hand pump every day or two, he says. Innophys has sold 4000 of the suits – which cost about £1000 ($1300) – since releasing them in April 2018. They are currently being used by one of Japan’s biggest whisky companies to help workers lift barrels, by nursing homes to help staff lift residents in and out of bed, as well as by food manufacturers and construction companies. Older people have told the company that the suits have allowed them to work for longer, says Orihara. “One client is a family-owned company which makes and sells pickled radish and uses heavy weights in the process of production,” he says. “The father is in his 70s and was supposed to retire but is still working with our muscle suit,” he says. Panasonic is also developing a range of exoskeleton suits. Its leading model – the Atoun Model Y – went on sale in July 2018 at a cost of £4200 ($5500) and is powered by motors instead of pressurized air. It has a battery life of 8 hours, weighs 4.5 kilograms, and generates an assistive force of 10 kilograms. Similarly, Japanese company JTEKT, part of the Toyota group, began selling a motorized exoskeleton for lifting heavy objects in August 2018 that it says is designed to support the ageing workforce. The demand for these exoskeletons is likely to increase as Japan is forced to raise the retirement age to address worker shortages. Earlier this year, the nation’s prime minister Shinzo Abe told a meeting of Japan’s Council on Investment for the Future that the usual retirement age set by companies should be lifted from 60 to 70, and that his government may consider enforcing this as law. “I want healthy, willing elderly people to use their experience and wisdom in society,” he said.