This wearable tail could help you stay balanced

Each week, we spotlight a cool innovation recommended by some of the industry's top tech writers. This week's pick is a wearable tail.

Japanese researchers designed a wearable robotic tail that could help humans keep better balance, said Jessie Yeung at CNN. The "biomimicry-inspired tail" is about 3 feet long. It's "covered in vertebrae-like plates" that contain sensors and has four artificial muscles to respond to the wearer's movements.

"This countermovement provides enough force to change the body's momentum and center of gravity, helping to correct balance and give wearers greater stability." The researchers studied the tails of seahorses for a sense of the right proportional size and weight. They think the robot tails could be used "to help steady elderly users, or to provide extra support for jobs that require lifting heavy objects."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up