A robot suit designed to help the disabled and elderly in their daily activities was given a safety certification Wednesday by a quality assurance organization, becoming the world’s first “welfare robot” to be so certified.

The Hybrid Assistive Limb, or HAL, robot suit developed by a venture in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, was recognized in a Tokyo ceremony by the Japan Quality Assurance Organization as the first internationally standardized safe wearable robot for welfare.

The device developed by Cyberdyne Inc., headed by Yoshiyuki Sankai, a professor at the University of Tsukuba, can supplement, expand or improve physical capability by reading nerve signals sent from the brain to the muscles.