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
.pict
antiscale composition
Appin
as Lu Hsun has it...
as still as still
autolyzate
Barreal
battened column
biotin-streptavidin
block randomized experiment
brauner
bryotoxins
cabrey
catch-words
cham shell grab
chatter time
cheekier
climatal
coil winders
collum omasi
colorimetry transmitting surface
common flour
computer programme
continuing operating enterprise
craneman
cut-site
daisy wheel
Den Hoorn
dermatograph test
dipropyl phthalate
double module
dyvise
earther
eckhards
electron-deficient molecule
emblazon with
energy-starved
enus
escalyptoresorcin
field testing
gabrielis
grams per cubic meter
guinan
hymenorrhaphy
hypodermic needles
Illminster
indefinitudes
Inkpan
kapus
lanproston
large core high numerical aperture fiber
leaching well
load diversity factor
marine type fan
masked appendicitis
message passing control
michle
mirabelloes
Mon-Arsone
mononitro-derivative
mutuality of objectives
neptunia oleracea lour.
nickel chromium tungsten steel
nidamental chamber
non-instinctive
old-man-of-the-woods
option information
pantograph test
Phytolacca decandra
plane mirror
priming procedure
prospecting magnetic
public user
razzmatazzs
result cache
roadholdings
roll-type grader
rottenish
sandaracopimaric acid
satang
shallow-focus earthquake
society.
sports-entertainment
stationary induction apparatus
straight connecting rod
take the shine out
tamman
terrener
the Post Office
to fiddle with
transversal slope cultivation
triple joint
unbalance phase indicator
unshifty
urethrovesiculo-differential reflextonus
wank off
weapons-grade uranium
weight conductivity
width of land
worobey
xanthoxenite
Yampil'