This is an incredibly interesting article outlining an out-of-the-box technology approach to address Japan's aging population. My first concern with this approach is that for the tail to help balance, it will have to be a certain weight. And that means that the elderly would be expected to carry this weight around all the time incase they loose their balance? Let alone the strange look of a human with a giant mechanical tail. I wish the article had gone into greater detail on what is expected of the elderly adopters of this new technology.