Tag: WALKING

In San Francisco yesterday, Berkeley Bionics showed off its new eLEGS bionic exoskeleton, which will allow paraplegics to stand and walk without human assistance. The 45-pound robo-braces are made from steel and carbon fiber, and can operate for six hours on a single charge using lithium-ion battery packs, according to Engadget. The eLEGS are adjustable for users between 5'2" and 6'4" and ...

Their computer counterparts may attract the majority of the media's attention, but smartphones aren't exactly invulnerable to viruses and hackers. As people diversify their mobile usage for banking and purchasing purposes, fortifying smartphone security becomes paramount. A few mobile protective services already exist, but -- as biometric technology becomes more effective -- security measures ...

Strolling around with your wheelchair-bound loved ones might one day be a whole lot less stressful, thanks to a new robotic wheelchair created in Japan. Designed by researchers at Saitama University's Human-Robot Interaction Center, the wheelchair uses distance sensors and built-in cameras to keep track of a pedestrian's position, allowing the chair to remain on the left-hand side of its targeted ...

We can't help but admire at a distance when robot technology advances in any measure. Call it habit, fear or just pent-up animosity from watching way too many sci-fi films, but the truth of the matter is robots are frightening. Take, for instance, Cornell University's Ranger robot, which just set the world record for untethered robotic walking, going strong for 14.3 miles in only 11 hours. Yikes, ...

After using her BlackBerry to get walking directions from her Google Maps app, Lauren Rosenburg, of Park City, Utah, found herself at the edge of a busy highway. She decided to cross it (since Google told her to), and, as you'd imagine, wasted no time in getting hit by a car. Now, she's asking Google to pay up for giving her dangerous directions. As Fortune reports, Rosenburg has filed a ...

A team of Japanese researchers have created a machine that could restore muscle memory in people who are partially paralyzed, possibly heping them to walk again. According to IEEE Spectrum, the group from the University of Tsukuba will present the details of their research at the 2010 Haptics Symposium this week in Massachusetts. Dubbed the GaitMaster 5, the physical therapy machine is similar ...

Imagine if you had to walk to work on a prosthetic foot. It's a sobering reality, but many Americans do it every day. Dragging around such a limb takes a lot of effort, but a new prototype could make it easier by recycling the energy a wearer would typically expend between steps. According to Inhabitat, when walking, we spend most of our energy transitioning from one foot to the other; ...

When University of Arizona student Matt Bunting was assigned a class project to build a robot, he naturally wanted to do it on the cheap. To complete the assignment, Bunting (a lifelong robot enthusiast) used spare parts from previous creations to build a spider-like bot. But the resulting "Frankenstein" garnered the student more than just an A in his engineering class. According to Fox News, ...

It's not going to win any foot races, but a new robot being developed for the U.S. Army still has a leg (or two) up on its competition. The "Petman" prototype is a bipedal robot that simulates human walking (video after the break) more realistically than any other robot we've seen. According to Wired, the robot, which is being developed by Boston Dynamics, will be used to test how protective ...

Never ones to let an economic downturn get them down, Japanese researchers have created yet another bizarre robot that will probably never reach U.S. shores. The bots, shaped like large tiles, measure the pressure of your step and determine where you'll next place your foot, according to Popular Science. They then scoot to that spot on the floor, giving you the sensation of walking in place. ...