In Japan, robot-led weddings, robot factory workers and even squeaky robot pets are all fine and good. But in-home helper bots, which are the main goal of many robotics research projects, are anything but widespread, even in that robo-friendly country. Apparently old people and sick people, even in Japan, still prefer that human touch. Rather than humanoid robots that do favors like pick up juice boxes, and even be-limbed ‘bots that wash people’s hair, some roboticists are increasing their focus on machines like self-adjusting beds that turn into wheelchairs, as this BBC story reports. RELATED ARTICLES Video: President Obama Meets the Robots of Japan Internet for Robots Lets Bots Share Instructions and Learn from One Another Rise of the Helpful Machines TAGS Technology, Rebecca Boyle, elderly, future of robots, health care, helper robots, hospitals, humanoid robots, japanese robots, robots, wheelchairsEspecially in Japan, efforts to build lifelike, useful humanoid robots often center on care for the elderly. Japan is an aging country, and it admits very few immigrants who could work as nursing home attendants or in-home care providers. But so far, the robots can’t do enough to be very useful, robot companies and analysts tell the BBC. Cute, pet-like robot companions have sold modestly well, the BBC notes — more than 1,000 Paro baby seal 'bots are in Japanese nursing homes and hospitals, as well as private homes. This is not a staggering figure, but that could be because of its $2,800 price tag. Joseph Engelberger, 85, who invented the first industrial robot in the 1950s, said robots ought to be more common. Every year, 200,000 elderly Americans fall and break a leg, and robots could help prevent that, he tells the BBC: “Robots should cost the same as a Mercedes and could be rented out. That would be a bargain compared to paying $600 a week for help.” After years of spending billions of yen on humanoid robot research, the Japanese government is increasingly focused on simpler, more practical robot platforms that can perform simple tasks. The five-year Home-use Robot Practical Application Project, started in 2009, seeks a bot that can be used as both a wheelchair and bed; a cleaning robot; a security robot; a wearable robot suit that assists daily activities; and a two-wheeled rideable robot, according to Tech-On. These single-minded ‘bots might be more palatable to elderly people and patients, the BBC says — already, some hospital robots have been abandoned because patients didn’t like them. A $100,000 hospital model “put patients off,” the BBC says: “We want humans caring for us, not machines,” one patient said. 0

Mapping the Magnitude of Brain Injuries from Explosions An image from the computer models created by the MIT team. Michelle Nyein

Just as the AK-47 rifle shifted the balance of power on battlefields the world over during the second half of the last century, the improvised explosive device (IED) has defined 21st-century insurgent warfare, allowing relatively low-tech warriors to inflict major damage on better-equipped conventional troops. IEDs have also left some 130,000 U.S. soldiers and marines suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) that continue to affect them long after they leave the combat zone. But a new study by MIT scientists suggests that adding a simple face shield to standard issue combat helmets could significantly reduce brain injury in soldiers.

The face, it turns out, works like a conduit for blast waves moving through the skull and into the brain, where they can wreak havoc ranging from concussion to long-term brain damage and post-traumatic stress disorder. The researchers – a collaboration between MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a neurologist at the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center – used MRI to model features of the head (including the skull, the brain, sinuses, and various bodily fluids) and then subjected those models to data on mechanical events like shockwaves.

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Technology, Clay Dillow, defense, improvised explosive devices, military, ptsd, traumatic brain injury

By observing the way a chemical explosion impacts the head both with a combat helmet and without, the team deduced that while the Advanced Combat Helmet (the standard issue bucket for most ground troops) delayed the arrival of blast waves somewhat, it didn’t reduce the overall impact because waves could travel unimpeded through the face. But after adding a conceptual face shield to the simulation, the models showed a significant reduction in the amount of stress placed on the brain during blasts.

A face shield obscuring the most recognizable identifying human characteristic exhibited by otherwise identically uniformed soldiers might not do much to win over hearts and minds, and the image of Private First Class Dough Boy showing up to win one for the good guys could yield to imagery of sterilized, ubiquitous storm troopers. But none of that is really relevant if face shields do what the MIT team says they can do: keep soldiers safer and reduce the impact of IEDs.

Not to mention, it’s an aesthetic step toward the Spartan armor suite of future battlefields. Suit up, Master Chief.