POSCO 1% Foundation distributes advanced assistive devices to individuals who have been injured, including those with meritorious service records, as well as to members of the military and firefighters.
More than 50 people, including Deputy Minister Yoon Jong-jin of the South Korean Ministry of National Veterans Affairs, POSCO's Yang Byung-ho, Head of Management Support, Choi Young, Head of Corporate Citizenship, and the national veterans selected for support, attended the delivery ceremony on November 23 at POSCO Center in Seoul.
This year, the POSCO 1% Foundation has expanded its range of high-tech assistive devices to include robotic prosthetic limbs and multifunctional wheelchairs, as well as C-Brace, a walking aid that enables paraplegics to walk freely.
For the first time, the foundation purchased RoFT, a robotic prosthetic leg developed by Hugo Dynamics, a South Korean company, to help spread domestic robotic prosthetic legs.
At the delivery ceremony, Ansan City Hall's Kim Young-min, who suffered from paralysis after falling to the ground during airborne training for special forces soldiers, and firefighter Kim Gyu-bin, who suffered a cervical spine fracture after being crushed by another tree while removing a fallen tree on the road, each received a walking aid and a multifunctional wheelchair.
"With the walker, I was able to move my legs and go up and down stairs and other places where my life was limited," said Kim.
"With the multifunctional wheelchair I received, I can stand and move at the same eye level as others, giving me the courage to live a new life," said Firefighter Kim Gyu-bin. "I want to make more efforts in rehabilitation and return to my daily life."
Unlike conventional prosthetic limbs, the robotic prosthetic leg can automatically move its ankle to adapt to its surroundings when taking a step, allowing it to stand on one foot. It also moves at a similar level to the human body, minimizing the impact on the rest of the skeleton. The robotic prosthetic hand has agility and dexterity, with five independently powered fingers and a rotating thumb.
All assistive devices can be adjusted to the smallest detail according to the individual's physical condition.
In 2020, the 70th anniversary of the Korean War, POSCO 1% Sharing Foundation signed an agreement with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs to provide advanced assistive devices to veterans of the Korean War, and provided 106 people with robotic prosthetic hands and feet and multifunctional wheelchairs until last year.
