Honda to Begin Lease Sales of Honda Walking Assist Device

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today announced plans to begin lease sales of the Honda Walking Assist Device, an assistive device for use in rehabilitation of walking, to hospitals and rehabilitation facilities throughout Japan. Lease sales are scheduled to begin in November 2015.

Honda has been developing and researching the Walking Assist Device since 1999. This work has been supported by studies into the theory of human walking that Honda gathered through research and development of ASIMO, Honda’s advanced humanoid robot.

With the cooperation of approximately 50 hospitals and other facilities in Japan, a limited number of the Walking Assist Device have already been in use, which enabled Honda to optimize the functions of the Device.

Honda is beginning lease sales of the Walking Assist Device to make it available for more hospitals and facilities across Japan.

The Walking Assist Device features a function to influence the user to achieve efficient walking based on the inverted pendulum model, which is a theory of bipedal walking, and is designed as a device to be used in walking therapy/training under the guidance of a doctor and/or therapist.