Robot Jacket to Help Stroke Victims

Continuing with their massive onslaught of robotic helpmeets for the elderly (can't forget Pero), a group from Osaka University has created a robotic jacket that will help stroke victims recover. Looking vaguely Metroid-esk (which came from Japan, BTW) the jacket reads the muscle movements from the good arm and transmits them to the jacket which moves the immobilized arm.

"Four pressure sensors in the arm section of the jacket capture muscle movement. When the healthy arm bends and extends, the jacket analyzes this data and sends compressed air to the affected arm, where eight artificial muscles affixed there expand and contract in the same way as the movement in the healthy arm."

The researchers are hoping to have the jacket on the market by Spring of 2008 with an asking price of about $2,100 USD.