Automatic Excretion Treatment Apparatus “LibertyHimawari”

Practical application of nursing care devices of the future created through connections in Shimane

　Liberty Solution (1-chome, Nishiyomeshima, Matsue) develops, manufactures and distributes “Liberty Himawari EZ (easy),” an automatic water supplying and draining bodily waste treatment device which greatly reduces the burden of those who provide nursing care to the elderly and the disabled. As excellent nursing care equipment created in Shimane that solves the problems of smell and cleaning up in nursing care, its sales are growing mainly in overseas countries such as China, Vietnam, and France.

　In the field of nursing care in Japan, where population aging continues to advance, changing diapers has become a heavy burden for caregivers. The latest model of bodily waste treatment device, completed through our repeated development and improvement efforts, is a system in which built-in sensors in the cup unit attached to the body detect urination and defecation and then automatically start operating the device to suction and drain the excrement into the sewage system through drainpipes, eliminating the need to remove and dispose of the solid or liquid waste stored in the tank. Since it uses warm water for washing and sends air to dry the area within the cup unit, it greatly reduces the labor and stress of caregivers.

　Chairman Taiki Ikeda, who developed nursing care equipment in China, established the company in Matsue in 2008 to develop, manufacture and distribute nursing care equipment. After more than a dozen years of development and improvements with a focus on bodily waste treatment devices, we launched the distribution of the first generation of “Liberty Himawari,” which functions attached to the human body, in 2016. Since then, we have received grants from two ministries for research on bodily waste treatment robots (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2017) and research on equipment for the disabled (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 2018), and made improvements leading to the development of the 4th-generation devices of today.

　The biggest problem in developing the device was how to seal the cup part, which becomes attached to the people requiring nursing care with varying ages and body types, to the skin without any gap and prevent the leakage of urine and water. It was Nakamura Brace (Ota, Shimane), a manufacturer of artificial breasts for breast cancer survivors who went through mastectomy, that helped solve this difficult problem. While we were having difficulty developing the cup, President Miyuki Furuta thought to herself, “What about a material similar to NuBra, an undergarment for women that adheres to the skin?,” and immediately visited Nakamura Brace with Chairman Ikeda to ask for their cooperation. The two of them say, “The moment we saw the special silicone material that fits the skin, we thought this was it. Thanks to the connections created by establishing our headquarters in Shimane, we were able to find excellent material, and became sure that we could commercialize a device that we can be proud of around the world.” reflecting on their excitement at the time.

　We have acquired domestic and international patents for “Liberty Himawari,” and now it is manufactured at the company’s headquarters, an outsourced factory in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, and an outsourced factory in Harbin, China. Its listed price is 600,000 yen. A total of 900 units have been sold in 3 years, mainly overseas. In China, where the product was released in advance, approximately 500 units have been sold to hospitals, nursing care facilities and wealthy individuals. It is also being distributed in Vietnam and EU countries such as France. Domestically, it is used in facilities in Tokyo, by people with disabilities in Shimane Prefecture, and patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in Tottori Prefecture.

　According to an estimate by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, we will need 380,000 additional caregivers by 2025, when all baby boomers will have reached the age of 75 and older. Japan is expected to face a serious shortage of human resources in the nursing care field. “The number of people in need of nursing care is increasing, while the number of people working in the field of nursing care is decreasing to the extreme. There will not be enough workers to change diapers in the future,” Chairman Ikeda says. “I think robots are the solution to these problems, and what is needed the most is robots to deal with bodily waste,” he emphasizes the significance of product development. Expecting that the market will grow into a large one, they anticipate future growth. “We need to keep innovating, and will continue our development of the next-generation bodily waste treatment machines using AI with the help of the Faculty of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, which has a research institute.”

Liberty Solution Co., Ltd.

Representative Director: Miyuki Furuta
1-2-7 Nishiyomeshima-cho, Matsue-shi, Shimane

TEL +81-852-61-3999

FAX +81-852-61-2399

http://www.liberty-so.com（外部サイト）