Japan's public health insurance system has started covering the use of Cyberdyne Inc.'s Hybrid Assistive Limb, commonly known as HAL, to assist people with mobility problems. It is hoped that HAL will open up a new horizon in the field of medical rehabilitation. The development of this kind of technology that helps people with physical difficulties is especially important as the nation faces the serious challenge of having a rapidly aging population.

Yoshiyuki Sankai, a robotics engineer and professor at the University of Tsukuba's Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering, began forming the basic principles of the powered exoskeleton in 1991 by taking a cue from the fictional concept of a cyborg — a person that has physiological functions enhanced by mechanical or electronic devices, often integrated with its nervous system. He built the prototype in 1997 and founded Cyberdyne, a venture enterprise, in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, in 2004 to promote the robotic suit.

To move limbs, the brain generates bioelectric signals that then travel through a neural network to specific muscles. The robotic suit, designed for the lower body, senses the faint signals in the skin and its motors immediately provide added power to the muscles that accomplish the intended movement. Thus it can help the disabled and the elderly stand up, sit down or walk. By being in between the cerebral nerve system and the muscles, the robot controls itself by processing information from sensors and acts as if it were part of the body.