8.9 earthquake and tsunami hits Japan: how could the LIFESUIT robotic exoskeleton make a difference?

Video from Youtube (shortlink for this page http://theyshallwalk.org/?p=567 )
Uploaded by newsxlive on Mar 10, 2011

A powerful earthquake has struck off Japan’s north-eastern coast, shaking buildings in Tokyo and forcing people out of their homes. Japan issued its most serious tsunami warning, saying a wave as high as 20 ft could strike the coast near Miyagi prefecture…..

Raw video footage from Japanese News station
Uploaded by ABCActionNews on Mar 10, 2011

NHK TV video of tsunami striking northeast coast of Japan following 8.9 magnitude earthquake…

It is important to consider how the cleanup and rescue would be different if there were one thousand LIFESUIT robotic exoskeletons in use in Japan now.  I know there are not any there other than the prototypes like HAL (shown in this YouTube video)
Uploaded by cyberpunkreview on Mar 2, 2007

HAL 5 or Hybrid Assistive Limb 5 is a robot suit (aka artificial powered exoskeleton) developed by Yoshiyuki…

When the LIFESUIT robotic exoskeleton is completed by They Shall Walk and the Seattle Washington team www.TheyShallWalk.org
The LIFESUIT robotic exoskeletons will first of all be shipped to Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India to be used at the CMC (Christian Medical College) by the thousands of mobility impaired patients that come for treatment. The CMC treats 5000 outpatients every day. Can you imagine that much illness, sickness, injury and disease every single day? The doctors, nurses and students there are amazing. Yes I said students, it is one of the best medical schools in the world and has been going for one hundred and ten years.

After the LIFESUIT robotic exoskeleton is in place at the hospital and used for rehab the system will be further developed for use by rescue workers. The LIFESUIT robotic exoskeleton will be placed with every fire-station and rescue operation there is in the world. I envision a pair of the robotic suits with every unit. When the emergency first responders arrive on the scene of a collapse the LIFESUIT robotic exoskeleton will already be with them, mounted on one of the rescue vehicles.

Early testing and development of the lifting capability of the LIFESUIT robotic exoskeleton was done at the Robogames event in the Bay area.
Uploaded by dudewalkerbot on Aug 7, 2007

They Shall Walk robotic suit LIFESUIT 13B with upper body exoskeleton for quadriplegics. This was part of the Robot Olympics 2007….
The LIFESUIT robotic exoskeleton can also jump six inches off of the ground…
Uploaded by tempusmaster on Jun 23, 2007

Tetsujin means ‘iron man’ in Japanese, and that’s exactly what this competitive RoboGames category is all about. In this video, Monty Reed demonstrates his robot suit’s ability to actually jump

In the event of an earthquake or tsunami in Japan or anywhere else for that matter the LIFESUIT robotic exoskeleton will be ready to help the rescue workers to dig survivors out from the ruble. You see the “Rescue Suit” is designed to lift 1400 pounds of concrete slabs or steel I beams. Some units will be outfitted with accessories that would normally be too heavy for a single person to carry but because of the power assist of the exoskeleton the operator will be able to work in inhibited.

When an earthquake and tsunami hits it is very often difficult for rescue vehicles to get to the survivors. Just a few hours after the 8.9 earthquake and tsunami hits Japan the official report was 1000 dead, however when you look at the video feed of the damage and the aftermath coupled with the fact that 90,000 are reported missing you can be assured the death toll will be larger.

In the future, when the LIFESUIT robotic exoskeleton is ready for rescue workers there will be less of the reported missing that will be found and become survivors. Without the LIFESUIT robotic exoskeleton there will be more casualties.

You can help support the work we are doing at They Shall Walk by making a donation today. You can also help by becoming one of the grass roots volunteers by advocating for us in your neighborhood. If you are part of a Rotary Club you can recommend your board consider joining the joint project between the Rotary Club of Vellore and the Rotary Club of Shoreline and help to give the gift of walking. Partner with one of these clubs for the Gift of Walking Joint project.

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