At this point in time, one would be hard pressed to find anyone who is not at least aware of some of the uses of exoskeletons as they pertain to use by humans. From supporting people during rehabilitation, to ensuring that people working in industrial and warehouse settings do not overexert themselves, while also preventing injuries and increasing their ability to carry heavy loads without tiring.
During the recovery mission of the Chang’e 5 sample container in the rough terrain of Inner Mongolia, the crew which was tasked with setting up the communications center, electrical supply systems and other essential services in the area wore exoskeletons. Developed by a relatively new Chinese company called ULS Robotics (see embedded promotional video after the break), the powered exoskeletons allowed the crew to carry 50 kg loads at a time for a hundred meters across the rough, snowy terrain.
The obvious benefit of an exoskeleton here is that while humans are pretty good at navigating rough terrain, this ability quickly degrades the moment a heavy load is involved, as anyone who has done serious mountain trekking can probably attest to. By having the exoskeleton bear most of the load, the wearer can focus on staying upright and reaching the destination quickly and safely.
With the growing interest for exoskeletons from various industries, the military, as well as the elderly, it probably won’t be too long before we’ll be seeing more of them in daily life the coming years.
(Thanks, Qes)
“By having the exoskeleton bear most of the load, the wearer can focus on staying upright and reaching the destination quickly and safely.”
Limit of human body as an engine. See mech.
“With the growing interest for exoskeletons from various industries, the military, as well as the elderly, it probably won’t be too long before we’ll be seeing more of them in daily life the coming years.”
UPS,Fedex,USPS,Door to door door salesmen*,etc.
*Darn, those sample doors are pretty heavy.
Sounds like a great project.
Then I think that a simple software mistake or reversed wire might cause the suit to hyper-extend one of the wearer’s joints.
Hey! Why ya keep hitting yourself?
Nope!
Maybe a motorized cart with wheels or for really rough ground a cart with legs but not a suit.
Im glad you said it, I had to build a set of stilts recently for an actor to wear when dressed up as a creature. The initial design worked great until we found that it wsa possible if the actor fell or somehow one leg ended up in a weird position the knee joint would hyper extend. A cuick re-design and changing out the archilies cable as well as putting a limiter on it kind of fixed this but in a fall there was still the chance that the pin used for limiting movement could snap and the cable could flick around resulting in hyper extension of the limb.
I can imagine the same thing would likley happen with these and even worse you have a motor that is driving at high tourque.
Looks like the units also promote bad lifting practices. Bend with your knees and not with your hips or back.
Hey, it’s made in China, where industrial safety means you didn’t die at work.
This …LOL
Hahaha, Love it.. And its so true!
You know what they say, any shift you can walk away from was one where the People Republic of China improved your life and you should be grateful.
>might cause the suit to hyper-extend
There is some documentary footage of that event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqte1kz88jc
Giving abnormal strength and mobility to the elderly? My first thought was mecha-Nixon from Futurama.
We’ve been hearing that these things are Soon ™ for years. I’ll believe it when I see it, it seems there are some practical reasons these things are not wide spread which all the failed projects don’t want to explain.
https://hackaday.com/2008/05/23/real-life-power-suits/
I would imagine they have all the problems of prosthetic limbs x4 at least, but probably add a few more to that for the “prosthetic spine” they must include which has more degrees of freedom than your arm, and multiply chafing and pressure sore issues by 3 or 4 for each limb. Then even if you make an adjustable one for precise fitment, you can’t rely on end users to do that, given that a lot of people won’t set up their bicycle or car seats for optimum ergonomics (But I like being about to touch the steering wheel with my elbows!) So you have to set them up not to break your arm when you’ve decided to adjust them such that your elbow is 20mm behind the mech’s hinge resulting in being unable to straighten your arm the last 10 degrees, which is “fine” (I like it like this!) until you throw your arm straight to save yourself and the mech goes all the way and you don’t.
Depends on how you do it – some of these sort of augmentations are not actively powered but spring loaded. Limits the amount of extra help it can give you – as you have to be able to use your body mass and muscles to preload the spring, for carrying the load. I think the systems I’ve seen have all be providing less than 20Kg of lift assistance – still that’s not bad – as you have to ask for heavier lifts how dense what you are lifting is – 20KG of anything but solid stock is one damn big package you can’t grip anyway..
However its done though the fitting to the user has to be good if its to practical, safe and comfortable.
“This Chinese Company Uses Robotic Exoskeletons to Keep Workers Safe”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b4TNu8tITI&feature=emb_logo
>ULS Robotics is developing three exoskeletons that workers can wear to hold and lift heavy equipment. One is for the upper body, another goes around the waist and the third focuses on the lower limbs. The first two weigh about seven kilograms each and allow a wearer to lift an additional 20 kilograms. They’re powered by a lithium battery that has a life of about six to eight hours.
>GM is testing some of ULS Robotics’ products. Other customers include China Southern Airlines Co., Shanghai Pudong International Airport and the new Beijing Daxing International Airport. Exoskeletons could be especially useful for ground-handling staff, Xu said.
cost is a major one…they have to become cheap enough to make it worth buying and implementing them instead of just getting new workers.
Powered exoskeletons my be “Soon” but unpowered ones are definitely here:
https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2018/08/07/ford-rolls-out-exoskeleton-wearable-technology-globally-to-help-.html
And, to stretch the definition: https://www.skimojo.com/ (which I have seen people using).
Though that led me to this, which does appear to be a powered exoskeleton for skiiers: https://www.roamrobotics.com/ski
I could never wear a powered exoskeleton…..the urge would be too strong not to say……
“Get Away From Her You Bitch !”
As someone who stacked many tons of very heavy wet lumber and similar work every day in his youth, I must say this looks totally fake. I did not see anything impressive in the video. The guy walking down the street with three empty blue boxes on the back is pretty obvious.
If you have bad knees the around the waist or upper body versions won’t help. They need an all in one version.
The idea of the upper body version has been around since ancient times.
The milkmaid’s yoke is a way to transfer weight to the body core and take the strain off the arms.
Yeah. The style the US mil is looking at has legs and back