HAL Lumbar Type for Labor Support mitigates the risk of backache for workers by reducing loads on their lumbar region when they lift heavy items. The devices are utilized for the improvement of the work environment and the avoidance of labor accidents.
Cyberdyne, developer of HAL [Hybrid Assistive Limb] cyborg-type assistance units, with which a wearer‘s physical capabilities can be improved, supported and enhanced, has announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japan Airport Terminal Co., Ltd. of Tokyo to introduce its next generation of robots to Haneda Airport's passenger terminal buildings.
Haneda Airport has been looking to introduce advanced technology to its passenger terminal buildings as a means of countering Japan’s labor shortage—the country has fewer children than in the past, an aging population and a continuing decline in the working population, while demand for air services to and from airports in the Tokyo metropolitan area expands.
Since its inception in 2004 as a technology startup based at Tsukuba University in Ibaraki Prefecture, Cyberdyne has been applying its "cybernics" technology to develop the powered exoskeleton HAL and more recently has put the technology into practical use and commercialized a host of work support robots.
The MOU includes:
(1) A host of robots developed and manufactured by Cyberdyne will be introduced to passenger terminals managed and operated by Japan Airport Terminal;
(2) Japan Airport Terminal will provide sales promotion activities and maintenance services at Haneda Airport for Cyberdyne robots; and.
(3) Japan Airport Terminal's insight and experience in running an airport and Cyberdyne’s cybernetics technology will be combined to create a next-generation airport model making broad use of robotics technology.