Toyota launches robot to keep elderly mobile

Toyota Motor said it will commercialise rehabilitation robots later this year when it makes its robotic walk assist system available for rent, joining Honda Motor in marketing mobility devices for Japan’s ageing population.

A decade after it began developing rehabilitation robots, the world’s No.2 automaker on Wednesday said the system would be ready to hit the market by the end of 2017, two years after Honda launched a similar device.

Hospitals and other care providers would be able to rent the system, designed for patients with lower limb paralysis, for 350,000 yen ($3,196.93) per month plus an initial fee of 1 million