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Cyberdyne reports 30 per cent more sales for its cyber-physical HAL exoskeleton

The company which claims to have developed “the world’s first cyborg-type robot” when it built the HAL exoskeleton says it sold 30 per cent more units in its most recent year compared with the previous year. 

In its annual report, Cyberdyne says it sold $15 million worth of HAL exoskeletons in the year to March 2017.

In the previous year to March 2016, the company sold just under $12 million worth of the HAL exoskeletons. 

HAL is the acronym for Hybrid Assistive Limb.

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Currently Cyberdyne is marketing the HAL exoskeleton to the health care sector and the industrial sector.

In health care, it tends to be used to support the infirm, and in industry, it tends to be used to provide additional power to manual labourers.

The HAL exoskeleton is designed to provide support to the lower limbs, the legs, from the waist down.

Yoshiyuki Sankai, founder and CEO of Cyberdyne, says: “Technology exists for humans and society.

“When I established Cyberdyne, my intention was to thoroughly incorporate this principle and create an enterprise that implements people-friendly technology for the benefit of society.”

Sankai adds: “The company is currently spreading its cybernic treatment with Medical HAL around the world as the first step towards the grand plan of a cybernic revolution.

“The reason is because cybernic technology, such as HAL, is designed to connect humans and the physical and information spaces. I also see this as the core technology towards shaping the super smart society of Society 5.0.”