Tag Archives: exoskeleton

This exoskeleton-like back support lets you lift heavy objects while keeping your back safe

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If your work involves regularly carrying heavy things around, then your back is most likely one of your body parts that suffers. I don’t have a job that does that (does carrying a heavy bag every day count?) and yet I constantly feel all sorts of back aches. Well, maybe I’m just old. In any case, those who work in construction, warehouse production, and other industries where they have to carry heavy objects need to have literal support to help them manage their bones and joints.

Designer: Bebop Design

A Korean studio designed one such product for their client WIRobotics. WIBS is a wearable back support that’s created specifically for those who are involved in labor intensive industries which workers can wear while they’re doing their task or when they’re on a break. The brace was designed to not look so much like a brace but more to look like it’s part of your outfit and will not get in the way of doing your usual tasks. It also looks comfortable enough to regularly wear or at least when you need to have better support for your body.

WIBS is able to provide mechanical support to the user’s posterior, including the back and waist, two of the parts that are affected when you regularly lift heavy objects. While the materials are durable and designed to withstand pressure, they were able to use a soft design to it for the user’s comfort. There is also no need for electricity to use it so you can go around without needing to charge or change any battery. It uses tensioned flexible rubber composite as well as mechanical gears. You can adjust the strength level through an analog controller in the chest area.

This back support device can be adjusted to various sizes depending on the wearer as it has adjustable straps for the perfect fit. Think of it as a posterior brace that will not hinder movements but provide much needed support as you go about your regular tasks that involve lifting and moving heavy objects for a long period of time.

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One-handed exoskeleton CNC machine lends super humanized powers to creative builders of the future

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In a world where innovation knows no bounds, Jasper Mallinson has created a groundbreaking prototype that pushes the boundaries of product design and wearable technology. His brainchild, the Mecha-Morphis Wearable CNC Machine, is nothing short of a modern marvel that promises to revolutionize the design manufacturing industries.

Mecha-Morphis is not your typical wearable exoskeleton. It’s a powerful, portable CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine that can be worn on your arm. What’s even more astonishing is that it’s small enough to fit comfortably, offering the wearer incredible mobility while working on intricate design and manufacturing tasks. If you are already feeling superhuman imagining the prospect of this wearable, you are not alone!

Designer: Jasper Mallinson

Imagine having a CNC machine at your disposal wherever you go. With Mecha-Morphis, this is now a reality. The device combines cutting-edge technology with ergonomic design, making it the perfect companion for architects, engineers, and designers who are always on the move. The frame of the portable and lightweight exoskeleton can move in six axes for six degrees of freedom in any direction. All the computer circuitry and other hardware attached to the machine is housed inside a small exposed backpack with the circuitry showing you mean business.

One of the most impressive features of Mecha-Morphis, envisioned as a part of Jasper’s final project from the Innovation Design Engineering masters course (by the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London) – is its versatility. Whether you need to carve intricate details on a piece of wood, sculpt delicate curves on metal, or 3D print a complex prototype – this wearable CNC machine can handle it all. It’s a design tool that adapts to your needs and allows you to unleash your creativity, no matter where you are. The Mecha-Morphis Wearable CNC Machine is not only resourceful for professionals but also for students and hobbyists. It offers the opportunity to learn and experiment with CNC technology in a portable, accessible way. The one-handed exoskeleton of sorts is a stepping stone for the next generation of designers and engineers.

Moreover, Mecha-Morphis is designed with sustainability in mind. It uses eco-friendly materials and efficient energy consumption, aligning with the global trend towards greener, more responsible manufacturing practices. It’s a testament to how innovation and environmental consciousness can go hand in hand. Empowering professionals to break free from traditional workshop constraints and explore new horizons, the Mecha-Morphis Wearable CNC Machine traverses the boundaries of conventional design, offering a glimpse into the future of creative freedom.

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This smart exoskeleton lends superhuman muscle endurance to weak arms

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None of us comes with superpowers (or do we?) normally exhibited by superheroes so casually in movies. Annihilating their enemies ever so skillfully, and getting out of precarious situations even when the odds are stacked heavily against them. In real life though, exoskeletons (mostly in the prototype stage) do bring a degree of superhuman power – assisting the leg, back, or arm muscles of the human body. Yet another promising exoskeleton developed by the researchers at ETH Zurich intends to increase arm strength – especially for people with muscular dystrophy.

They call it Myoshirt, a wearable arm exomuscle to compensate for injuries or conditions restricting the normal movement of the arm. The additional layer of muscles is made out of wearable textile that can be worn over the upper body like an armor jacket. Smart sensors embedded in the vest and cuffs detect the wearer’s intended movement and provide able muscular assistance. More simply put, it is like an artificial tendon as the motor shortens or loosens the cable along the length of the muscles for added power and assistance. This could be anything from lifting a big bottle full of water from a precarious position, to providing thrust for pushing someone upwards.

Designer: ETH Zurich

In the initial tests, the design successfully demonstrated its practical viability. 12 volunteers (10 of them completely healthy) were able to exercise for a longer duration, as endurance increased by 60 percent for ones with muscular dystrophy and 30 percent for uninjured ones. Even better, it shot up to three times the normal for people with spinal cord injury. Most of the volunteers found the wearable to be very easy to use, as they were able to lift their arms or hold things for a far longer duration than normal.

If you were already thinking of exploring the Myoshirt’s abilities in real-life situations, hold your horses for now, as it is still in the early prototype stage. There’s a bulky actuator and external control box that both weigh around 8.8 lbs. So, you’re already leveled up when it comes to having an advantage. For now, the goal of the team is to make the design lighter and smaller – something that can be worn under clothing without causing any uneasiness. According to Michele Xiloyannis, a worker at the Sensory Motor Systems Lab at ETH Zurich, the next phase is about testing the prototype outside the lab and using the result “to further improve it.”

Roadmap for ETH Zurich narrows down the collaboration with their spinoff company, MyoSwiss AG to further refine the working of the exomuscle. To keep things simple for now, the researchers want to focus only on supporting the wearer’s shoulder area to reduce the exoskeleton’s size. Later on, when the product meets fruition they can concentrate on providing muscular support to other parts of the upper body.

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This lightweight exoskeleton doesn’t need batteries to give you superhuman powers

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We’ve seen our fair share of real-world exoskeletons that try to show how manual labor could be different in the future, even without the help of robots. True to the common image of these mechanical suits, these exoskeletons are often large, heavy armors that don’t trade comfort and flexibility for power, making them more tedious to use despite their advertised benefits. It doesn’t have to be like that, though, especially if you’re not aiming to lift heavy crates anyway. This exoskeleton, for example, doesn’t use batteries to move, making it better suited (no pun intended) for more recreational activities.

Designer: Skeletonics

Exoskeletons, at least those that aren’t works of fiction, are often designed to allow feeble humans to perform extraordinary feats. In most cases, it’s to enable work that would otherwise be impossible for a normal human being to perform, like lifting heavy objects. Sure, a robot arm or forklift could probably do that, too, but those would lack the finesse that comes naturally to humans. At the same time, there will be places where heavy machinery won’t be able to squeeze into to get the job done.

On the flip side, those suits, or sometimes just legs, aren’t exactly the most comfortable or the easiest to wear. In addition to the weight of the metal parts themselves, the exoskeletons are weighed down even more by batteries and electric motors that make the parts move. While they might be more agile than some industrial machines, they aren’t exactly more graceful than their purely mechanical counterparts.

Skeletonics is different in almost all aspects. It isn’t designed to be an industrial working tool, though it could help you carry and move some heavy objects, too. It is, instead, designed to augment the fluidity and precision of human movement, allowing humans to be stronger and reach farther than they normally could without turning them into a mechanical Hulk. It is also meant to be lightweight and easy to use, thanks to having no batteries or parts that need electricity to function.

Instead of electricity-powered motors, Skeletonics uses your body’s own kinetic energy to move its own limbs. In a way, it mirrors your arms’ and legs’ movement but also adds a bit of strength and length to it, but you are literally the one in the driver’s seat. It’s the difference between reaching for an object with your hand and using a joystick to move a robotic arm instead. The drawback is that Skeletonics can’t exactly be used as something like power armor for heavy lifting, but it can gracefully swing a baseball bat better than those.

The exoskeletons are, after all, envisioned to be used for different applications, particularly what is being called “superhuman sports” or augmented sports. At the same time, however, it could also be an opportunity to give people with physical disabilities a chance to participate in those events because they could use their own bodies and the superhuman abilities they developed to drive these battery-free machines. Best of all, Skeletonics offers an alternative way to drive these exoskeletons, and hopefully, there will come a time when we won’t have to choose between that more sustainable technology and mechanical power.

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Skeletonics Kinetic-Energy Exoskeleton: Humans In Disguise

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Determined to win the costume contest at this year’s Halloween party? Look no further than the Skeletonics kinetic-energy powered exoskeleton – perfect for taking your Transformer costume to the next level. The next level being the 1st place pedestal at the costume contest, just so we’re clear. I can practically feel that $100 gift certificate to Spirit Halloween in my robotic hands!

Unlike some other exoskeletons, the Skeletonics relies on no outside power source, instead using a wearer’s kinetic energy to mirror their movements on a larger scale – including hand and finger movements like grasping. The whole thing stands approximately 9-feet tall and weighs only 88-pounds, making it easy to strap to the top of your car like you just bagged yourself a Decepticon.

The video demonstration really is impressive, considering the lack of an external power supply. Granted, the Skeletonics exoskeleton might not be capable of picking up a car or battling an alien queen like a Power Loader, but I really don’t want to be battling alien queens anyway – I just want to win a costume contest for once.

[via TechEBlog]

These modular prefab homes could be the world’s first to use a steel 3D-printed “exoskeleton” construction system!

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Located in Orani, Sardinia, Exosteel comprises the world’s first housing development to use a steel 3D-printed “exoskeleton” construction system that supports and distributes all the functional elements of the building, inspired by the sculpture work of Costantino Nivola.

Museums are social hubs for travelers. They’re cultural and artistic landmarks first, yes. But they’re also guaranteed spots where tourists can take some respite from long hours spent wandering the city. Near the Nivola Museum in Sardinia, Italy, international design studio Mask Architects visualized a cluster of homes to function as a housing development for the surrounding community. Conceptualized as a small village of modular prefabricated steel houses, Mask Architects is the world’s first architecture and design firm to use a steel 3D-printed “exoskeleton” construction system to build the small village, calling it Exosteel.

Exosteel comprises a group of modular steel homes that would be constructed using ​​a 3D-printed construction system that supports and distributes all the functional elements of the building. Mask Architects co-founders Danilo Petta and Öznur Pınar Çer felt inspired by Costantino Nivola’s sculpture work, in particular a travertine sculpture called ‘La Madre.’ Punctuating the terrain of a sloping mountainside in Sardinia, Exosteel is comprised of heart-shaped, white homes with center ‘energy towers,’ oriented in the same way as the head on Nivola’s ‘La Madre.’

Mask Architects plan on building Exosteel by first inserting a hollow central column ⅓ of the building’s height into the ground, reinforced by wooden beams to support each home’s three floors. Then, on each floor, a perimeter frame “divides and supports the [home’s] facades made up of panels modeled to follow the organic shape of the house,” as described by Mask Architects. Following Nivola’s pursuit of binding communities together through art, Mask Architects chose Exosteel’s location due to its proximity to Orani, Sardinia’s national museum, where Nicola’s ‘La Madre’ is on permanent display.

Striving to ensure each building is entirely “self-sustainable,” Mask Architects designed each module that comprises Exosteel to be expandable and flexible to meet the conditions of Sardinia’s natural climate and weather conditions. Considering Orani’s propensity for wind, the homes of Exosteel are completed with built-in voids that guide wind through each building to the development’s communal wind turbine. As described by Mask Architects, Exosteel garners energy from individual energy conduits placed at the top of each home.

Describing the energy conduits, Mask Architects note, “Each building is centered with an ‘Energy Tower’…covered with solar panels that will harvest solar energy while the top of the central energy tower itself will rotate 360 degrees at the same time with the wind that will also generate wind turbine energy…​​The main centered energy tower that houses all the systems is constructed out of a steel skeleton. By connecting our bearing steel beams to this skeleton column, we actually created a completely self-supporting steel carcass metal structure.”

Designer: Mask Architects

This NASA exoskeleton spacesuit designed for inter-galactic space exploration has strong Halo-inspired vibes!

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Imagine a time where humans have set foot on most of the planets in the galaxy, with even more to explore. This exoskeleton spacesuit coincides with that ultimate dream and our unstoppable quest for space exploration!

Venturing beyond the realms of planet earth comes with its unique set of challenges. The effects of gravity being on top of the list. NASA has put a lot of time and effort into developing new-age spacesuits to counter the effects of gravity in hostile environments. 14 years to be exact, and it has cost them a whopping $420 million already. The space agency is expected to churn out another $625 million in time for the next moon mission which was earlier planned for the year 2024.

That time frame is now expected to shift to April 2025 as the development of the spacesuit has been delayed a bit. Even Elon Musk has offered his Space X services to help NASA develop the next-generation spacesuits which will cost over $1 billion – more than the cost of the Falcon 9 orbital rocket. How these next-gen spacesuits will ultimately look like is still a mystery, but a futuristic exoskeleton spacesuit gives my wings imagination.

This jaw-dropping concept spacesuit is the work of designer Riyahd Cassiem who fuses the cool element associated with exoskeleton suits to the inter-planetary dreams we humans have embarked on. The Exo Suit Concept has a definitive Halo game influence to it – one can instantly relate to the fearless KAT-B320, CARTER-A259 and ALICE-130 characters. The reinforced suit is built for the harshest of situations, and the mechanical character means it is going to provide the wearer assistance in performing arduous tasks, otherwise too tedious in alien environments. Of course, it is made from lightweight yet stellar material for ultra-flexibility which is crucial.

I can’t stop myself from drawing a parallel with fencing helmet influence for Riyahd’s spacesuit design. This thing looks absolutely fit for a future where space travel is going to be the norm. A time where we have conquered the roadblocks that currently limit us in freely exploring the surface of the red planet Mars, or our nearest destination – the Moon!

Designer: Riyahd Cassiem

Robots will serve as guides for the 2020 Olympics

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You didn't think a 2020 summer Olympics set in Japan would go without some robots, did you? Sure enough, they're on their way. The Tokyo Olympics' Organizing Committee has launched a Tokyo 2020 Robot Project that will have automatons providing assis...

Samsung’s ‘Bots’ and exoskeleton hint at the future of care

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At Samsung's press conference, the day before CES officially opened, there was the usual parade of smart home gadgets and appliances. Then right at the end, almost as an aside, the company revealed potentially the most exciting products of the sh...