Cyberdyne's robotic HAL suit marches into Japan hospital trials

While climbing mountains and helping disabled tourists are fine pursuits, Cyberdyne's HAL robot suit has found an even nobler occupation: helping patients rehabilitate from debilitating nerve and muscle illnesses. According to The Asahi Shimbun, ten hospitals in Japan will start the first clinical trials of the lower-body suit version we saw last year, designed expressly for use by health care professionals. It works by detecting weak bio-electrical signals from patients' muscles which drive small motors and power units, and will be tested on 30 adults to see if it can help them re-learn to walk. Cyberdyne's wares will be trialed in European hospitals too -- which would be a lot of good service for a company with such an evil moniker.