Honda Unveils Experimental Walking Assist Device With Bodyweight Support System

Honda Unveils Experimental Walking Assist Device With Bodyweight Support System

Japan, November 7, 2008–Honda Motor Co., Ltd. unveiled its second experimental walking assist device that helps support bodyweight to reduce the load on the user's* legs while walking, going up and down stairs, and in a semi-crouching position. Honda will now begin testing the device in real-world conditions to evaluate its effectiveness.






Walking assist device with bodyweight support system


Going up stairs while wearing the device



The new walking assist device with the bodyweight support system reduces the load on leg muscles and joints (in the hip, knees, and ankles) by supporting a portion of the person's bodyweight. The device has a simple structure consisting of seat, frame, and shoes, and the user can put it on by simply wearing the shoes and lifting the seat into position. Moreover, a mechanism that directs the assisting force toward the user's center of gravity and the ability to control the assist force in concert with the movement of the legs – both unique Honda innovations – make it possible for the device to provide natural assistance in various postures and motions.

Honda began research of a walking assist device in 1999 with the goal to provide more people with the joy of mobility. Honda developed the knowledge required to develop the walking assist device from its thorough study of human walking represented by the research and development of Honda's advanced humanoid robot, ASIMO. This research has been conducted by the Fundamental Technology Research Center of Honda R&D Co., Ltd. in Wako, Saitama. To evaluate the effectiveness of the experimental model of the walking assist device with bodyweight support system, Honda will test the walking assist device at its Saitama Factory (in Sayama, Saitama) starting this month. * This device is designed for people who are still capable of walking on their own.


■ Key Features 1. Convenient sitting-type device
· The user simply needs to wear the shoes and raise the seat into place.


· The user can benefit from the assist without need of a belt to fasten the device to their body.


· The structure to position the device between the user's legs minimizes the required footprint, therefore making it easier for them to maneuver.



2. Method to assist bodyweight support
· The device will support a portion of the person's bodyweight by lifting the seat as the frame between the shoe and seat bends and extends, just like knees, with the force from the motor. As a result, the load on leg muscles and joints (in the hip, knees, and ankles) is reduced.


· Honda developed a unique mechanism where the seat and frame follow the movement of the body and legs. The assisting force will be directed toward the user's center of gravity, just as with human legs, which enables the device to provide assistance in various movements and postures including walking, going up and down stairs, and in a semi-crouching position.



3. Natural control of the assisting force
· Natural walking is achieved by changing the amount of assisting force applied to the right and left legs through the control of two motors based on the information obtained though sensors imbedded in the shoes of the device.


· The effectiveness of the device was increased in those motions and postures which put increased load on knees, such as going up and down stairs and in a semi-crouching position. This was achieved by adjusting the assisting force in accordance with the bending and stretching motion of the knees.



■ Key specifications of experimental walking assist device with bodyweight support system
Weight 6.5kg (including shoes and batteries)
Drive system Motor X 2
Battery pack Lithium ion battery
Operating time per charge 2 hours (including walking and in a semi-crouching posture, etc.)
Suitable height of the user Within plus or minus 5cm of the set height
(Example: set height for Medium size is 170cm)

iBangle

The iPod pretty much owns the day in the world of MP3 players, but that doesn’t mean they can’t give it a drastic upgrade in the future. Designer Gopinath Prasana prefers a wearable player and so created the iBangle concept. Wearing it is better then carrying an extra gadget after all.

This MP3 player is in the form of a bracelet or bangle, hence the name. It features a multi-touch track pad so you can control your playlist. It’s pretty small, so you won’t be watching videos or movies, making this like the iPod shuffle. Since everyone has different wrist sizes, the iBangle adjusts by inflating a cushion so it will fit snugly.

Dolby True HD

Dolby TrueHD
Dolby TrueHD is Dolby’s next-generation lossless technology developed for high-definition disc-based media. Dolby TrueHD delivers tantalizing sound that is bit-for-bit identical to the studio master, unlocking the true high-definition entertainment experience on next-generation discs. When coupled with high-definition video, Dolby TrueHD offers an unprecedented home theater experience that lets you enjoy sound as stunning as the high-definition picture.
Features

100 percent lossless coding technology.
Up to 18 Mbps bit rate.
Supports up to eight full-range channels of 24-bit/96 kHz audio.*
Supported by High-Definition Media Interface (HDMI™), the new single-cable digital connection for audio and video.
Supports extensive metadata including dialogue normalization and dynamic range control.
*Dolby® TrueHD can support more than eight audio channels. HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc standards currently limit their maximum number of audio channels to eight.


Benefits

Delivers enthralling studio-master-quality sound that unlocks the true high-definition entertainment experience on next-generation discs.
Offers more discrete channels than ever before for impeccable surround sound.
Compatible with the A/V receivers and home-theaters-in-a-box (HTIBs) of today and tomorrow.
Dialogue normalization maintains the same volume level when you change to other Dolby Digital and Dolby TrueHD programming.
Dynamic range control (Night mode) enables you to customize audio playback to reduce peak volume levels (no loud surprises) while experiencing all the details in the soundtrack, enabling late-night viewing of high-energy surround sound without disturbing others.
Selected as the mandatory format for HD DVD and as an optional format for Blu-ray Disc.
Next-Generation High Definition Disc Players are Compatible with Current A/V Receivers

Whether you own an older audio/video (A/V) system equipped with Dolby® Digital, or a newer A/V receiver equipped with an HDMI™ connection or external line-level multichannel inputs, you are assured of a compatible, high-quality playback path.

3D display

A 3D display is any display device capable of conveying three-dimensional images to the viewer.

There are few basic types of 3D displays. Stereoscopic technology separately sends two views of a 3D scene on its screen(s) to the viewers two eyes. autostereoscopic 3D displays advance on stereoscopic technology without the need for any special glasses or other head gear by using high resolution flat panels to generate a given number of views of a 3D scene through some sort of pixel redirection technology. This solution gives "ok" quality 3D views from predefined sweet points in front of the display, but leaves a tangled image while in between the sweet points. Continuous 3D light field display developed by Holografika generates a glasses free 3D image with no restrictions on the number of viewers, their position in front of the screen and their movement. Holographic 3D displaying researchers are able to create a light field which is identical to that which emanated from the original scene (for the technology, see Computer Generated Holography). This last technology is capable of reproducing horizontal and vertical parallax at the same time, while stereoscopic and autostereoscopic technologies can create horizontal parallax 3D images only. This may seem a limitation of 3D displays, but the longitudinal location of human eye on the head is in perfect pair with the horizontally multiplied views of these displays.

In addition there are volumetric displays, where some physical mechanism is used to display points of light within a volume. Such displays use voxels instead of pixels. Volumetric displays include multiplanar displays, which have multiple display planes stacked up; and rotating panel displays, where a rotating panel sweeps out a volume.

Other technologies have been developed to project light dots in the air above a device. An infrared laser is focused on the destination in space, generating a small bubble of plasma which emits visible light. Up to now (August 2008) the experiments only allow a rate of 100 dots per second. One of the issues which arise with this 3D display system is the use of technologies that could be harmful to human eyes.

SAMSUNG HT-X715 HOME THEATRE SYSTEM

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800W RMS
With a powerful 800W RMS output, you can be confident that you will feel the impact of your favourite action movie, and still hear the soft dialogue, and delicate musical scores.

stylish 5.1 Semi-tallboy speakers
Convenient stylish Semi-tallboy speakers allow you experience true surround sound without large imposing speakers dominating your living room

stylish ''Crystal'' finish
SAMSUNG's signature ''Crystal'' finish means that you can perfectly match your new home theatre system to your SAMSUNG 6 Series LCD or Plasma TV for a seamless stylish look.

Bluetooth connectivity
With a Bluetooth connection you can easily (and wirelessly) play music directly from your Bluetooth MP3 player or mobile phone.

www.1staudiovisual.com.au

Xbox 360 follows Wii in rush for the mainstream

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Microsoft is hoping to convert a new generation of gamers to its Xbox 360 console with features that allow owners to interact with one another via the internet and stream movies their TVs.

With a nod to Nintendo - which has enjoyed great success with its Wii device by reaching out to the non-core gaming audience - the software giant said the next range of Xbox games would include an online game show as well as one which allowed players to become actors in films.

It also announced a partnership with Netflix, the DVD rental company, which will allow Xbox owners to stream more than 10,000 films and television shows from their Xboxes to their TVs.

Unveiling a host of new features at this year's E3 video games conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft said it hoped the Xbox could become a general hub for entertainment in the living room, offering something more than the shoot-'em-up experiences that have been at the gaming industry's core.

Chief among the new products to be released this autumn is a version of 1 vs 100, the television game show created by Endemol, the production giant behind Big Brother, which will allow contestants to compete in a quiz against others elsewhere in the world.

1 vs 100 will be supplemented by You're in the Movies, which lets players improvise scenes using the device's built-in camera and transfer them into movie settings, and the latest version of Guitar Hero, the popular music-making game in which players form virtual bands that compete against one another.

Also new is a feature which lets owners create an avatar - a cartoonish character custom-built to represent themselves - which can then be sent to virtual "parties" and other online environments where Xbox users come together via the internet platform, Xbox Live.

“For the last few years we have consciously and continuously fed the core gamer audience, and now we are reaching that inflection point where we have to reach out to the mainstream consumer and bring them into the Xbox 360,” David Hufford, Microsoft’s director for Xbox product management, said in an interview with The New York Times.

“So we have to appeal to the mainstream more than ever now. And what really is appealing to that mainstream consumer is that social experience; whether it’s the older consumer or the Facebook generation, they see games not as a solitary experience but as something you do with friends and family."

The company added that it had not forgotten those enamoured of violent games, previewing a new version of Gears of War 2, the sequel to one of the most popular games of 2006, as well as Final Fantasy XIII, published by the Japanese company Square Enix, which is due out next year.

Separately, Electronic Arts, the publisher, showed off its line-up of games for the end of the year. New offerings included Spore, an "evolutionary" game which lets users fashion their own monsters one body part at a time, and Dead Space, a Alien-style science-fiction horror game which takes place on a space station.

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BlackBerry Bold takes on iPhone

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The BlackBerry Pearl and Curve models began the trend and the BlackBerry Bold, billed by many as RIM's answer to Apple's iPhone, makes its entrance as the all-singing, all-dancing range-topping BlackBerry.

RIM launched the Bold here last week, with stock expected to hit the market in mid-August.

The Bold is the first multimedia BlackBerry to be able to handle the speedier HSDPA 3G mobile data pipes. The more traditional 8707G was the first 3G BlackBerry sold here.

Publicly RIM says it's happy for competitors such as Apple to come in and lift the overall smartphone market and RIM front man Dennis Kavelman has even offered to buy Apple's Steve Jobs a drink for his efforts (blackberry and vodka perhaps). Under the spin, the Canadian smartphone maker is protective of its fat business smartphone market share and wants to lift its game in the consumer market.

RIM feels the new Bold is the gadget that will hold the line against the likes of Apple, and the new phone has some features that surpass the iPhone.

There's a 2.0 megapixel camera with flash and video capability (the iPhone has a rudimentary 2mp camera without flash or video), a separate camera for video calling (the iPhone can't do video calls), a micro SD slot to supplement the Bold's 1GB for storage and 128MB of system memory built in (the iPhone comes with a minimum of 8GB but can't be upgraded) and a long-life, replaceable 1500mAh battery. The iPhone has to be sent back to a service centre if the battery dies.

Unlike the somewhat slippery iPhone, the Bold has a grippy leather backing with a chrome screen surround. The Bold measures 114mm by 66mm by 15mm.

The two phones have a similar footprint, but the Bold is 2.7mm thicker and 3 grams heavier than the iPhone.

There's also a snappy 624MHz processor, a loudish speaker, GPS navigation, WiFi and a universal 3.5mm headphone socket.

Both the iPhone and the Bold have Bluetooth but the Bold can double as a tethered modem - which is very handy for supplying bandwidth to a notebook on the road - while the iPhone can't do the Bluetooth modem trick.

The Bold sports a small but high-res 480 by 320 pixel screen with a trackball for navigation and full QWERTY keypad for input, while the iPhone sports a much larger, 3.5in, 480 by 320 pixel touchscreen.

Here is where the two diverge sharply in design and philosophy.

With its much larger screen, the iPhone is a terrific handheld viewing platform for text, pictures and movies, especially for those with ageing eyeballs, and its clever touchscreen-driven user interface is state of the smartphone art.

The Bold's much smaller screen and trackball-driven user interface are functional enough but I found the iPhone easier to drive and better to watch. When it comes to text input, the BlackBerry has the edge, with its more positive mini-keyboard surpassing the iPhone's pop-up touch keypad.

The Bold syncs up through the simple-to-use BlackBerry Desktop Manager and can suck down unlicensed iTunes music through the new Media Sync tool.

Onboard applications range from media players, GPS mapping, calendering, email and web browsing to productivity apps such as the Word To Go and Sheet To Go document handlers.

There are a few games such as Texas Hold 'Em and, like Apple's App Store, supplied applications can be supplemented with free and pay programs, which are available online.

When it comes to hooking into enterprise email and applications the Bold supports Microsoft, Lotus and Novell servers and there are BlackBerry versions of many enterprise apps.

RIM claims the data compression used by the corporate-only BlackBerry Enterprise email server chops expensive 3G data usage five-fold compared with other smartphones.

RIM's service came under fire last year when a major server outage in the US disrupted BlackBerry communications worldwide. RIM has been spreading its server infrastructure around the world to boost redundancy, but RIM could not say when it would build a data centre in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Bold may be parsimonious with data, but RIM says the latest BlackBerry is designed to create handset envy among high achievers. "Our job in recent years has been to disguise this tool as something fashionable."

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