时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2015年(七月)


英语课

Powered Exoskeletons Give Assistance in Walking, Lifting


Powered suits that could help paralyzed people walk and others lift and carry heavy loads with ease have been an inventor's dream since late 19th century. But they had to wait until the 21st century for the advanced materials, motors and power sources to bring them closer to practical use.


Now, with the press of a button, a person with a with severe spinal 1 cord injury can have the ability to walk again, thanks to the Walking Assistive Exoskeleton Robot.


The 20-kilogram device, made of aluminum 2 and carbon fiber 3, has four battery-powered motors that can run for up to three hours. Inventor Wu Cheng-hua, from Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute, said it had performed successfully in tests on 12 patients.


“We have learned from our research process that patients whose injuries [are] below the fourth chest joint 4 are able to use our robot to stand, walk and sit down,” he said.


Since walking contributes to muscle exercise, Wu said patients received some additional benefits by using his device.


“In the clinical process, we would check their bone mineral density 5, and we found that the bone mineral densities 6 of these patients had been improved, which is a positive index for their health,” he said.


Wu said his exoskeleton might be available for consumers by 2018.


Meanwhile, baggage handlers at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport will soon start testing a similar device, developed by the Japanese firm Cyberdyne.


When a person wearing the exoskeleton called HAL bends to lift a heavy object, the machine detects the movement, said developer Yoshiyuki Sankai, who is the CEO of Cyberdyne.


“This robot suit detects the signal from the human nerve system to support the waist's movement," Sankai said. "It self-adjusts the level of support it provides to reduce the load on the human waist, while being very light and compact."


The battery-powered device weighs only 3 kilograms and can run for up to three hours. During next six months, Haneda Airport will test three exoskeletons as well as several small cleaning and baggage transport robots.



1 spinal
adj.针的,尖刺的,尖刺状突起的;adj.脊骨的,脊髓的
  • After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天,就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
  • Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。
2 aluminum
n.(aluminium)铝
  • The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
  • During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段,它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。
3 fiber
n.纤维,纤维质
  • The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
  • The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。
4 joint
adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合
  • I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤,肩膀脫臼了。
  • We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。
5 density
n.密集,密度,浓度
  • The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
  • The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。
6 densities
密集( density的名词复数 ); 稠密; 密度(固体、液体或气体单位体积的质量); 密度(磁盘存贮数据的可用空间)
  • The range of densities of interest is about 3.5. 有用的密度范围为3.5左右。
  • Densities presumably can be probed by radar. 利用雷达也许还能探测出气体的密度。
学英语单词
acrospiromas
analytic operator-valued function
area levelling
atomic oxygen fluence model
axial cut distance
azimuth compiler
bahorok
ballast draft condition
batch calculation
bellowed
causative factors of injury
cepalotribe
cobalt nitrate
commodity in warehouse
companion piece
completion message
concentration tracer
cu fts
despotic monarch
dextropropoxyphene
doubling course
dwarf grey willows
elbow-bone
ewan mcgregor
fakeness
flat-plate pressing machine
foot piece
free open textured sand
friction bezel ring
game-fishing
hecto-coulombs
henders
heterogenous catalysis
hog-nosed snake
hollow cathode aluminum ion laser
horsemeat
hungers
hydrophiling
ill-luck
in boundless enthusiasm
incident neutron energy
Indigosol Green IB
iner
katastates
keep your chin up
lavand
load-carrying winding
low-volume shipper
Macquarie Island
magson
Maskil
mason cities
master distance indicator
MCAIS
measurement pattern
mene, mene, tekel, upharsin
metasilicate
more significant bit
Murray State University
new productive capacity
nonoperating
numerical response
optimum capital stock
pachycholia
paramilitarisms
paratrygonica
pentapyrrolidinium
phobic layer
phrasemakings
pinos
power weight ratio
prolified
rageaholics
ravet
reactive termination
redirector
retrofittable
rookly
rotundatus
rugous
satyr plays
sea-cornet
Seckels
single-tub wagon tipper
special holder
spironolactone(anti-aldosterone)
spitball
standard money unit of account
state of permanent neutrality
statistic bit rate
steel hemp
suck at
suratenses
to service
tweer
underground gasification of coal
urcaryote
variable-duration
water regeneration technique
whip a fault out of sb.
wormly
yellowishness