A Robotic bed that converts into a wheelchair
London: In what could make easy the task of
moving patients between beds and wheelchairs, a leading
Japanese electronics firm has developed a new 'Robotic Bed'
that can convert into a wheelchair with a simple voice
command.
The revolutionary device that was displayed recently at
Panasonic headquarters in Osaka, Japan, automatically
separates different components and converts into either a bed
or wheelchair as per the command by the user, The Daily Mail
reported.
The developers hope the Robotic Bed will help people with
limited mobility become more independent.
"Now, the user can join the family meal by converting the
bed into a wheelchair and moving to the dining table without
the need of assistance from other people," the report quoted a
company spokesman as saying.
According to the company, the device has an intuitive
controllers that allows the user to drive it and command it to
transform into a bed.
While in wheelchair mode, the robot can also detect
obstacles in its way to avoid collisions, said the report.
In bed mode, the robot adjusts and optimizes the mattress
to contour to the body shape. The robot also helps the user
turn over to prevent bedsores.
Panasonic, which formed a robotic unit last year, sees a
profitable future in robotics. It predicts sales of its
robotic items of worth 600,000 pounds by 2015.
Bureau Report