Official News page 8

REAL LIFE NEWS: AIRBAGS FOR THE ELDERLY

by Hazed

Japan as a nation is worried about the rapidly aging population, and they are turning to technology to help take care of those who can't look after themselves any more. The newest device to aid the elderly is a wearable airbag that pops out when they fall over. It weighs just over a kilo and looks like a traveller's waist pouch, but when it detects that the wearer has taken a tumble, it inflates in one-tenth of a second, thus cushioning the fall.

It's the development of a company based in Tokyo, called Prop, and they'll be charging 148,000 yen (about $1685). The airbag was demonstrated at a fair for products intended for the elderly and people with disabilities.

The airbag protects the back of the head and the buttocks with two inflated bags, each of which contains 15 litres of gas. I guess that's not going to make the bags bouncy enough to boing them upright again, like a weeble that wobbles but doesn't fall down, which is a shame. Still, since elderly people are more prone to injury when they fall, due to their brittle bones, it could minimize the hazards of getting old.

But it does assume that they always fall backwards...

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