Honda will showcase an experimental model of a walking assist device which could support walking for the elderly and other people with weakened leg muscles

A simple design to be worn with a belt around the hip and thigh was employed to help achieve overall weight as light as approximately 2.8kg. As a result, the device reduces the user’s load and can be fit to different body shapes.

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Back in December 2007, a jury awarded a plaintiff $10 million as a result of a doctor accidentally leaving a surgical sponge inside the plaintiff after his procedure. Currently, hospitals attempt to prevent retained sponges by requiring nurses to individually hand count all the sponges that will be used in a procedure – tracking the sponge counts on a white board. At the end of the procedure, all sponges – both dirty and clean – are counted again by hand and reconciled with the original count.

The Safety-Sponge System prevents false correct counts by computerizing all sponge counts in an OR. As each individual sponge has a unique two-dimensional bar code, no one sponge can be counted twice and inadvertently create a false correct count. This essentially eliminates the root cause of retained sponges.

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