About the Team
Team WPAL participate in the Global Innovation Challenge 2023 Living Assistance Robot Contest.
This is the second time this team has participated in the GIC2021.
Team WPAL is a Japanese-based team based at Fujita Health University.
The robot used(WPAL: Wearable power-Assist Locomotor) was jointly developed by Fujita Health University and Tomei Brace Co.
It is approximately 100 cm in height, weighs approximately 13 kg and can walk at a maximum speed of 1.3 km/h.
The robot is unique in that the actuators are located inside both lower limbs of the pilot.
WPAL is constructed to resist lateral sway.
The controller and battery are mounted on the walker, making the pilot's naves a lightweight, simple exoskeleton robot.
One of the main features is that it can be fitted while sitting in the car chair.
The pilot is Mako Shibuya.
She suffered an injury to her 8th thoracic spinal cord in a fall and uses a car chair.
She is energetically active as a YouTuber (Gendai no Mononokehime Maco).
She has been training with WPAL since last year for the contest, and has challenged tasks 2: Preparation, task 3: meals, task 4: laundry.
