The research group of Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Koji Ohata, Bukkyo University, Faculty of Insurance Medical Technology, Professor Nao Tsuboyama, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Professor Yuichi Sawada, is a walking learning support robot "Orthobot". Was developed.This device has been commercialized and is scheduled to be released in March 2020.
Currently, it is said that the number of stroke patients in Japan is 130 million, and many patients have some kind of walking disorder due to sequelae or spinal cord injury.Patients need to perform walking training to improve their walking function, but it is not easy to provide effective training in long-term care facilities and day care.In addition, when the walking function deteriorates, there is a problem that the risk of easy fatigue and falls increases, the amount of activity decreases, the risk of causing disuse syndrome increases, and finally training cannot be performed and the disease becomes severe.Furthermore, in Japan, where the aging society is advanced, robotization of rehabilitation is a necessary initiative.
The research team has developed the walking learning support robot "Orthobot" as part of the "Kyoto University COI (Center of Innovation)" initiative of Kyoto University, which aims to bring about innovation in society through industry-academia collaboration.It consists of an Orthobot main unit with a built-in drive motor and a waist belt unit equipped with a rechargeable battery and an operation panel. It is possible to guide a person's walking to the walking movement that should be.The body unit weighs about 1.2 kg and the waist belt unit weighs about 1.8 kg, minimizing the burden on the wearer.The waist belt unit can also be held by a caregiver.
In the future, we will carry out specific clinical research to further enhance the effect verification and develop more advanced medical equipment. Sales are scheduled to begin in March 2020 through Fingallink Co., Ltd.
