This seems like a very useful items for survivors. You'll have to do your own testing and acquisition since it is unlikely your hospital will do anything with this.
Video here; hope you can read Japanese.
Unplugged Powered Suit - video
Explanation of it here:
A new model of pneumatic muscle and an active type of assistive
equipment incorporating this pneumatic muscle has been developed at
Hiroshima University and Daiya Industry Co. Ltd., Japan. This wearable
equipment, called the Unplugged Powered Suit (UPS), supports human
movement without requiring any electronic devices and tanks because it
employs a newly developed pneumatic muscle named Pneumatic Gel Muscle
(PGM) as an actuator. The UPS improves the quality of life of not only
elderly individuals but also healthy people who enjoy sports activities.
The UPS will be displayed at the International Robot Exhibition 2015 in
December.
To prevent injury and accidents by aging and muscle
fatigue, it is important to provide with safe and easy-to-use assist
devices. In traditional assistive equipment, compressors and tanks are
necessary to exert sufficient power for supporting human motion. It is
also expensive to maintain an assist device.
The UPS consists of
three parts: PGM (drive part), pump (air pressure for flexing
artificial muscle), and pipework (transmission). PGM is characterized as
light and flexible, and can exert supportive power by low air pressure.
The pump is equipped in the sole, and thus the driving force can be
transmitted to PGM by using the human body weight. Overall, the UPS has a
very simple structure, is easy to maintain, and is inexpensive.
“For
example, PGM covers the articulatio coxae and the pump is equipped on
the contralateral sole. This arrangement makes it possible to support
human hip movement in the swing phase,” said Associate Professor Yuichi
Kurita at Hiroshima University.
There are two examples of UPS
application. One is to decrease muscle activity during jogging, and the
other is to increase the pitch speed. To decrease muscle activation
during jogging, PGM in the UPS is equipped along the musculus soleus and
the pump is equipped on the ipsilateral toe. To increase the pitch
speed, PGM in the UPS is equipped along the greater pectoral muscle and
the pump is equipped on the contralateral toe.
"The UPS is
designed to support human motion where and when needed. It also does not
contain any heavy devices. This means that we can customize the UPS to
the user’s particular needs such as muscle strength for athletes and
rehabilitation. In the future, we can develop smarter assistive suits
including wearable actuators and sensors by using our technique," said
Dr. Kurita.
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