Japan is the first country that was labeled by the United Nations as a super-aged society (over 20% of the population are currently 65 or older), and it has the world’s biggest robotics industry. So it’s not really surprising to see a relatively big number of “health care robots” coming out of this country, for example Japan Logic Machine’s “Yurina” [JP].
The robot’s main purpose is to help in situations in which physical strength is required. Yurina is able to lift and move people weighing up to 80kg from one place to the other, help them taking a bath or changing diapers.
She also doubles as a wheelchair and can be controlled via voice recognition, joystick or touch screen. One battery charge (six hours) is enough for ten hours operation.
The robot stands just 126cm tall, but her arms stretch 154cm from left to right. Yurina is actually on sale and costs $41,000 and $43,000.
This video (subbed in English and shot by DigInfoNews in Tokyo) provides more insight:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnwwtjbFlHo&w=640&h=385]
Watch Yurina in action in this demo video (in Japanese):
[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/grExgfWpMwA]
