Hasta La Gadget!

SuperTrac, manufactured and marketed by Minato Medical Science, is an active automated intermittent traction device that can traction the lumbar vertebra.
“Conventional traction devices have been bed designs, with the lumbar vertebra tractioned while the patient lies on the bed. SuperTrac is a chair design traction device. People with back pain have had difficulty getting on and off the bed, but SuperTrac has the advantage of being able to provide traction with the patient just sitting in …

Outstanding Technology has developed two commercial products using visible light communication technology, using LED lights to transmit data. These are a location service for smartphones, called the Commulight System, and a visible light transceiver, the TR01.
The Commulight System consists of a receiver that plugs into a smartphone or tablet, and LED lights with a built-in transmitter. The receiving device obtains IDs emitted by the LED lights, enabling it to download content relevant to the …

NICT and Fujitsu are working together to develop a real-time indoor guidance system for the blind. As GPS cannot be used to get positional data indoors, the system uses a smartphone and ultra wide band (UWB) transmission technology to get accurate real-time position information.
Impulse radio UWB technology uses extremely short nanosecond long pulses to get positioning information. Base stations are used to track the position of the user and their target point, with positioning accuracy within …

Mahoro, co-developed by AIST and Yaskawa, is a general-purpose android for automating lab work that previously had to be done manually.
The robot can do tasks, such as dispensing and culturing, faster and more precisely than people. So, it can do clinical tests and work with biohazards efficiently.
“For example, to develop influenza drugs, we do infection trials every day, using virulent strains of influenza. This work is very hazardous, so it should be done by robots. We also have to do …

Kokusai Kogyo is developing a disaster prevention AR application the can visualize the depth of water in the event of a tsunami or flooding.
With this prototype, the water level five meters ahead is superimposed on the view from the camera of an iPad.
“Hazard maps are distributed in printed form or published on Web sites, but people don’t know what the situation would be where they are right now. So, we want to let people know, right away, what would happen where they are now, using …