Helps you walk even when you are legless.
A robotic suit that reads brain waves and helps people with walking disabilities will be available to rent in Japan for $US2,200 a month. HAL, which is the unfortunate name for the Hybrid Assistive Limb suit, has sensors that read brain signals directing limb movement through the skin.
The ten kilogram battery-operated computer system is belted to the waist. It captures the brain signals and sends instructions to mechanical leg braces strapped to the thighs and knees.
Cyberdyne said it will mass-produce HAL (wait, that has to be the most geeky sci-fi sentence ever constructed! -ed). The demonstration video shows a partially paralysed person getting up from a chair and walking slowly wearing the HAL suit.
HAL comes in three sizes, small, medium and large, if you are legless there is a cut price version.