{"rewrite":{"id":"r_63ee7bd0b531ab65b1827ed7","clusterId":"c_a699e8207ff6b24ab8958e13","slug":"keio-startup-humonii-develops-hands-free-electric-wheelchair","model":"deepseek-v4-1-flash","headline":"Keio Startup Humonii Develops Hands-Free Electric Wheelchair","summary":"Humonii, a startup founded from Keio University in April 2026 and selected for the Keio Startup Incubation Program, is developing Feeling, a semi-autonomous electric wheelchair that moves by reading shifts in the user's center of gravity. A belt-type interface and AI operation assistance system, based on research from the Masaki Takahashi Laboratory, allow users who cannot move their hands, including people with quadriplegia, to move independently.","whyItMatters":"The design choice is the story: Humonii built a semi-autonomous chair rather than a fully automatic one, after patients in an earlier mobility support activity said they were scared of full automation and wanted to do what they could themselves.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eFeeling does not steer with a lever. A belt-type interface reads the strength of the user\u0026#39;s trunk and an AI operation assistance system interprets a slight shift in center of gravity as a direction of travel, so a patient with quadriplegia can move the chair on their own initiative.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCEO Yosuke Kawasaki said the concept came out of a mobility support activity with a fully automatic wheelchair, where patients said full automation left them uneasy and that they wanted to keep doing what they could themselves. Demonstration experiments have run since 2025, before the company was founded, and continued use is expected to make trunk movement smoother and improve balance and posture.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"Humonii, a Keio University startup founded in April 2026, is developing Feeling, a hands-free electric wheelchair that reads shifts in the user's center of gravity through a belt-type interface and AI operation assistance. Demo experiments have run since 2025.","twitterPost":"Keio startup Humonii is developing Feeling, a hands-free electric wheelchair. A belt-type interface and AI operation assistance read shifts in the user's center of gravity, so patients who cannot move their hands can move on their own initiative.","threadsPost":null,"newsletterBlurb":"Humonii, a startup founded from Keio University in April 2026, is developing a hands-free electric wheelchair called Feeling. Instead of a lever, a belt-type interface reads the user's trunk and an AI operation assistance system senses shifts in center of gravity. CEO Yosuke Kawasaki said the team chose a semi-autonomous design after patients using a fully automatic wheelchair said full automation made them uneasy.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"ASCII.jp\",\"url\":\"https://ascii.jp/elem/000/004/428/4428897/?rss\",\"title\":\"Humonii, a Keio University Startup, Develops Next-Generation Hands-Free Wheelchair\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4609,"outputTokens":603,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1791161970,"createdAt":"2026-10-05T00:55:55.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-10-05T00:58:24.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-05T00:58:24.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_a699e8207ff6b24ab8958e13","canonicalTitle":"ハンズフリーで移動可能な次世代車いす 慶應義塾大学発スタートアップ「Humonii」","representativeArticleId":"a_2da181af39d78bbefb58f156","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[],\"studios\":[\"Humonii\"],\"people\":[],\"type\":\"news\",\"domain\":\"other\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-09-29T21:00:00.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-09-29T21:00:00.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-05T00:58:21.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"ASCII.jp","url":"https://ascii.jp/elem/000/004/428/4428897/?rss","title":"ハンズフリーで移動可能な次世代車いす 慶應義塾大学発スタートアップ「Humonii」"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":[],"studios":["Humonii"],"people":[],"type":"news","domain":"other","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":null}