Load bearing exosuits that help people carry excess weight will likely have a place in society in the near future. Most likely in factories or on battle fields as a means of transporting supplies. That much is obvious. What’s not so obvious is the idea that the average person may soon be utilizing them as well. And yet that’s exactly what may happen thanks to newly designed robotic shorts that can help people cover more ground!
As Scientific American puts it, “A pair of fitted shorts may not look much like the high-tech robotic exoskeletons of Hollywood films. But this seemingly simple device, which tugs on the wearer’s legs with each step, probably represents the first exosuit capable of significantly assisting humans in both walking and running.
Until recently, no exosuit design had succeeded in reducing the amount of energy required for both types of motion. Earlier generations of such suits, also known as wearable robots, had stumbled in that challenge because of the different biomechanical actions required for walking versus running. Now researchers have developed a soft device that can automatically detect whether the wearer is walking or running and provide the appropriate assistance for either movement.”
Exactly how much assistance are we talking?!
According to The Verge, “By having someone run and walk on a treadmill while wearing the shorts and measuring the amount of oxygen they consumed while breathing, the researchers calculated that the metabolic cost of walking and running were reduced by 9.3 and 4 percent respectively, compared to running without wearing the shorts. That change in effort is the equivalent of feeling 16.3 pounds or 12.6 pounds lighter, respectively.”
As a recreational hiker who often laments how hard it is to traverse long trails without a willingness to go backpacking this technology could be a real game-changer. By feeling lighter I could travel farther since there would now be less resistance dragging me down. Less strain on my knees and back as well. In theory, not only could I go farther but now I could move quicker too enabling me to cover more ground in less time.
This amazing breakthrough comes to us from researchers at Harvard University and is a big step forward compared to prior attempts at inventing similar technology. Hopefully, the research continues to advance and we’re all bounding around our favorite hiking trails in no time at all.
Are robotic shorts the Greatest Idea Ever?
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