Cyberdyne HAL Lumbar Type price & specs

Cyberdyne (Japan) Cyberdyne HAL Lumbar Type (1)

Rental, ~$330/month (¥49,500)Japan-only rental through the Cyberdyne store, with the labor-support unit at ¥49,500 per month (¥55,000 for a one-month rental with return shipping) and the home "HAL at home" program for the well-being model at about $400 (¥59,400) per month after a first trial month of about $270 (¥40,700).

AvailableButtons onlyBack & hip exoskeleton2.7 kgBioelectric controlRental, Japan only

Possibly ≤ 1 weekRented from the Cyberdyne online store within Japan, with a flat ¥5,500 nationwide shipping fee for the labor unit and a web setup session for the home program; not available outside Japan. Cyberdyne store ↗

Control: Not possible. On-device controls only; the home program uses web support sessions rather than an app.

Official page (labor support) ↗Cyberdyne store (labor rental) ↗Cyberdyne store (HAL at home) ↗Exoskeleton Report (BB04) ↗

Overview

The HAL Lumbar Type is Cyberdyne's hip-only spin-off of its HAL medical exoskeleton, read from bioelectric signals on the skin like its full-leg sibling, and it has been rented to Japanese farms, warehouses, factories and care homes since around 2013 (unconfirmed). It comes in several variants, the labor-support HAL-LB06 (2.7 kg, about 10 hours, IP5X and IPX4) for lifting work, the care-support model for nursing staff, and the HAL-BB04 "for well-being" that also serves as a sit-to-stand and trunk trainer for older people at home. It is rental only and Japan only, with the labor unit at about $330 (¥49,500) a month for companies, and the BB04 available to individuals through the "HAL at home" program with web coaching after an eligibility screening, which makes it one of the few industrial-grade exoskeletons a private person can rent. The English site states it is not rented to individuals outside Japan. Fit is limited to people of 140 to 180 cm and 40 to 80 kg, and the lift support is modest next to motorized back exos like the IX BACK VOLTON or Apogee, since the aim is to reinforce the wearer's own muscle effort rather than carry the load.

Specifications

Category	Exoskeletons & exosuits · Industrial & work
Released	2013
Country	Japan
Availability	Available
Programmability	No programmability
Built-in autonomy	Reactive · Responds to its surroundings without a map, such as avoiding obstacles or following a person
LLM support	None · No voice assistant or LLM.
Vision sensors	No vision sensors
Actuators	Brushless / direct-drive motors
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Proprietary / undisclosed
Control	Buttons only
Weight	2.7 kg (HAL-LB06 labor support, with battery; 3.1 kg for the LB03 and BB04 models)
Assistance	Electrodes on the skin pick up the bioelectric signals sent to the back and hip muscles, and the hip motors extend the hips in time with the wearer's own effort during lifting, lowering and sit-to-stand, cutting lower-back load by up to 40% with five assist levels.
Joints	Back & hips
Battery & runtime	Proprietary rechargeable battery, about 10 hours on the LB06 depending on assist level (about 4.5 hours on the older LB03), 2 to 3 hours to charge.
Operation	Five assist levels set on the unit; the well-being BB04 model adds a Cybernics Autonomous Control mode that runs without skin electrodes.
Sensors	Bioelectric potential sensors on the skin plus hip joint angle sensors.
Compute	Not published
SDK	None