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points by 4star3star 3 days ago | 0 comments
Since my elderly parent has fallen a few times and now must use a walker, I've often daydreamed of an overhead cable system hooked into a harness. Is there anything like this in development?
[–] dingdongditchme 3 days ago
That's actually exactly what J.P Merlet was researching about! But to be honest I am not sure if it ever got out of the university prototype phase. I know of systems in care-homes which are like movable cranes but they require big doors and even flooring like you would find in a hospital. Because handling cables is actually tricky and you have longer setup times than you would expect the only commercially successful cable robot that I am aware so far is the skycam other comments have mentioned.
[–] throwup238 3 days ago
It’s stuck in R&D for some reason [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.#Death

[–] ajolly 13 hours ago
" death was ruled a suicide by the coroner"