If you thought yesterday’s CAR test of Honda’s U3-X electric unicycle was weird, wait until you here about these two ‘walking assist’ devices. Since 1999 Honda has been researching and developing walking assist devices for people with leg problems, and CAR has just tested two such contraptions. Read on for our full review.
So what are these new Honda walking assist systems?
The first – and more simplistic – device is (to use its full name) Honda’s Walking Assist Device with Stride Management System. (Let’s call it Stride Assist.) It’s designed to help people with leg problems, mainly Japan’s OAP 65+ population – which will make up a fifth of the populace next year, and 35% by 2050 – but it can also help those rehabilitating after accidents.
There are three parts to the device. The first is a belt, with adjustable straps at the front, and a solid section at the rear that runs from one hip, around your back, to the other hip. The solid section also houses the battery pack and computer control, which nestles in the small of your back, while a small motor hangs down from the belt on either hip. And to accommodate big Westerners, and those with childbearing hips, Honda has also developed three different size belts, with either 312, 342 or 372mm of space between the motors.
Once the belt is in place, a thin frame is then clipped into the bottom of each motor. At the bottom of each frame are two pads, which hang just above your knee. One is placed on your hamstring and the other on your quad, and then they’re secured in place.
Being strapped in by Honda’s engineers makes you feel like Iron Man getting dressed, but once you’ve actually adjusted all the straps for yourself, it takes less than 10 seconds to put the Stride Assist system on. The whole thing, at least in 342mm size, weighs just 2.8kg, and with the lithium-ion batteries fully charged, there’s two hours’ charge if you walk at around 3mph.
And then?
Then you press the ‘on’ button on each motor and set off. The torque of the electric motor is sent through the thigh frames to your legs, so when you take a step forward your leg is helped from behind, and on the second part of the stride the pad on your quad pushes your leg back. Sensors on the inside of the motors detect the angle of your hips and decide how the timing and how much assistance you need.
At first you walk a little like Robocop, awkwardly stepping forward, but you soon start to adjust to the motor’s inputs. It helps you up stairs too, but not down – so you don’t fall, in theory. But the biggest difference you notice is when you take Stride Assist off and suddenly feel how heavy your legs are, and what an effort it takes to walk.
So far Honda has trialled Stride Assist in care homes, rehabilitation centres and hospitals. Honda found that when its patients (average age 78) used the device twice a week for three months it lengthened their stride and thus walking speed. And when test subjects were made to walk up hills, their heart rate was on average 20bpm lower with Stride Assist.
>> Click next to read about the Bodyweight support system
And the other walking assist device?
This one is a little weird. It’s called Walking Assist Device with Bodyweight Support System, and it’s designed to reduce the load on your muscles and joints. It’s a simple structure made up of a seat, frame and shoes, and the total weight is just 6.5kg.
So you take off your shoes and slip your feet into the shoes that are part of the Bodyweight Support system. Laces, zips and Velcro strap make sure they’re held firmly in place, and you then press the ‘on’ button on each leg. Then you bend down, place one hand on the front of the ‘seat’, and another on the back, and pull the whole device up under your crotch – there’s no straps or belts. It hardly looks natural on though, the seat gives you a giant codpiece, and personally I think it makes the wearer look like an ostrich.
And despite the system coming in three sizes, at 6ft 5in I’m too tall for the ‘Large’ size, so much to the horror of Honda’s engineers the seat hangs slack about an inch below my crotch. To make it work I have to walk with my legs constantly bent, and that’s gets them even more on edge.
As you walk the system lifts the seat up between your legs, supporting your weight, and the shoes help lift your feet as well. It does the same when you ascend or descend stairs, though a descent feels weird as the device feels like it’s lifting you up when you’re trying to head down.
But the biggest benefit comes when you have to crouch as the system takes your weight – it’s why Honda conducted trials at its Saitama factory, where the workers are on their feet all day.
Verdict
Both of Honda’s walking devices are a little weird, but unlike the U3-X both have also got a much better chance of making production. The test results for the Stride Assist system have shown how beneficial it can be to an ageing population, while Honda has received inquiries about the Bodyweight Support System, which it admits could be used in factories, by security patrolmen, by delivery companies, or by sightseers.
They might look funny now, but one day we won’t be laughing when we’re 70 and are wearing a Stride Assist device to go to the shops.