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Robotic solution helps Japanese FI with heavy (cash) lifting

'Lift with the knees' is only one part of the solution for aging employees at the bank's cash delivery facility; the second part is provided by a new glute-boosting device.

May 11, 2015

Japan's aging population is creating some unusual problems — and solutions — in the workplace, where 25 percent of employees are 65-plus.

According to a post on Digits, a Wall Street Journal blog, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. is introducing "robot suits" to help older employees at its cash delivery units who have to lift heavy stacks of banknotes and coins.

The Hybrid Assistive Limb suit (aka HAL — as in "2001: A Space Odyssey") straps around the employee's backside to give the give the glutes and hamstrings a power assist of about 40 percent. The result is that the average 10-kilogram (22-pound) package of cash feels more like 6 kilos (13 pounds).

SMBC has leased four of the devices, produced by Japanese developer Cyberdyne, to test in its cash-delivery units.