How nice it is to walk steadily outside. I feel refreshed.
Kim Wan-mi, 47, who has a severe brain lesion disability (former grades 1–3), wiped the rain from the face and smiled as Kim said this. After walking a little over 1 km, the face looked refreshed. It was nasty weather with rain and a cold wind, but Kim said, "The robot kept both steps balanced, so there was no great difficulty walking to the end." There was a staff member alongside providing support, but Kim walked most of the course independently and finished.
Hwaseong Special City in Gyeonggi on the 20th held the event "A beautiful journey, walking the spring path together" at the Hwaseong Sports Town plaza with the Ardim Welfare Center, run by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism Social Welfare Foundation. Teams of four, people with and without disabilities, each walked one lap (1,050 meters) of Hwaseong Sports Town to complete a total of 4,200 meters to mark Disabled Persons Day (Apr. 20). As the rain intensified during the event, organizers changed the plan to walk one lap together.
About 1,000 people with and without disabilities joined the event. It drew attention that participants with disabilities who found it hard to walk on their own took part with the help of a "wearable robot." Kim, along with Lee Byeong-sik, 64, and Yang Yong-seok, 76, wore Angel Robotics' hip-assist robot Angel Suit H10 and completed the targeted 1 km section.
All of them did 3 to 6 months of rehabilitation exercises based on the H10 before joining the event. The artificial intelligence (AI) built into the H10 quickly processes information collected through seven sensors to grasp the user's intent and condition. It then assists with "as much force as needed, where it is needed." Patients with neurological disorders such as stroke or cerebral palsy, or those who have had artificial joint surgery (THA, TKA), can use it for rehabilitation and it has received medical device approval. Patients with sarcopenia can also expect rehabilitation benefits. Angel Robotics has released the H10 for recovery and maintenance-phase patients and the Angel Legs M20 for acute and recovery-phase patients.
With its dedicated app Angelar Pro, the H10 enables structured rehabilitation training. It precisely measures factors such as the ratio of the stance phase (foot on the ground bearing weight) and swing phase (foot off the ground moving forward) that make up the gait cycle, as well as joint angles, and shows the analysis results in the app. This information is used to conduct patient-specific, customized rehabilitation.
Yang, who has a mild brain lesion disability (former grades 4–6), wore the H10 and used a cane but was all smiles while steadily completing 1 km. Yang said, "If I hadn't worn the device, it would have been hard to walk this distance as usual." Lee, who has a severe brain lesion disability (former grades 1–3), said, "I have used the H10 for about six months and felt my muscle strength increase a lot," adding, "Thanks to working hard on rehabilitation, I was confident enough to take part in the walking event."
After putting on the H10 and walking myself, I could feel support at the hip joint. When I relaxed and walked, the robot supported the waist and hips, making it stable. Turning on the function that applies gradual load to aid rehabilitation made it feel like walking in water. A representative from Angel Robotics said, "The H10 is a product that helps patients return to daily life as soon as possible," adding, "The M20 targets severe patients and was introduced to support H10 users who can take part in walking events."
In addition to Angel Robotics' products, non-disabled participants wearing walking-assist robots from Hypershell and WeRobotics also stood out. Kim Seong-gyun, Director General at SEDAA, a corporations that acts as a sales agent for Hypershell and WeRobotics products, said, "We empathized with the purpose of people with and without disabilities walking together, so our staff wore Hypershell and WeRobotics products and joined the event."
Some participants joined the event riding frame-running equipment provided by Good Playground, a social corporations for rehabilitation sports for people with disabilities. Frame running, an official Paralympic event, is a sport in which people with disabilities such as brain lesions or motor-function impairments support their bodies on a three-wheeled frame and propel themselves by pushing the ground with their feet. Shin Ji-won, 18, the country's only student frame-running athlete, also completed the walking event with a guardian and smiled, saying, "Walking with people made it feel like walking on clouds, and it was nice." Shin has a severe intellectual disability.
Venerable Doseon, director of the Ardim Welfare Center that hosted the event, said, "If you go alone, you can go fast, but if you go together, you can go far," adding, "We planned the event to share the value of going beyond consideration to walking together."
A representative from Angel Robotics said, "It was very meaningful that people with disabilities felt the joy of stepping on the ground themselves with the help of robots and discovered new hope for walking," adding, "We plan to support more people with disabilities so they can communicate with society without restrictions and lead self-directed lives."