Toyota to develop rehab support device

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Toyota Motor Corp will develop a rehabilitation-supporting device by using robot technologies, company officials said Monday. The device is supposed to help a person with paralysis on one side of the body walk by providing power assist to the paralyzed leg.

The automaker also plans to develop power assist equipment for automobile factory workers engaging in heavy physical work. The rehabilitation support device, to be mounted on a paralyzed leg, will monitor through censors the movements of the other leg on the unparalyzed side of the body.

The device will enable the paralyzed leg to move in the same way as the other leg after a certain delay, allowing the patient to engage in rehabilitation or walk without the help of a care worker.

At Toyota plants, various robots perform tasks involving delicate movements with the aid of sophisticated censors. Toyota hopes to use the technologies used in the robots to develop new products.

Toyota plans to start tests on the rehabilitation support equipment later this year, aiming to put the device on sale in the early 2010s.

A senior Toyota official said the company aims to keep the price at a level similar to minivehicles, which are usually sold for hundreds of thousands of yen.

Power assist devices are seen to become more important to Toyota in the future, as the company is likely to face greater difficulties in securing workers fit for heavy labor as the aging of Japan’s population progresses further.

Such devices will allow even women and aged people to engage in strenuous work at factories more easily.

Due to continuing growth in global auto demand, Toyota needs to expand its production capacity. Such devices are seen to help Toyota increase its domestic capacity.