WORLD
Real-life super-powered 'exosuit': Better, faster, stronger ... softer
Baku, June 28 (AZERTAC). In comic books, it`s not enough that there are suits that give mere mortals super-human strength. No, these super suits have to be so lightweight that they fit into a suitcase — or underneath ordinary clothing. Through a Defense Department-funded research project worthy of science fiction, a soft robotic exoskeleton, pulled on like a pair of pants, could one day give athletes an extra kick or soldiers the strength to lift heavier loads than their muscles alone could bear.
While an early prototype looks like an elaborate climbing harness wired to a backpack, the goal is to eventually merge the extra "muscles" with clothing. "You can imagine something like a spider web that`s integrated into tightly fitting pants," Conor Walsh, a robotics researcher at Harvard University`s Wyss Institute and leader of a team from Harvard and Boston University that designed and built the "exosuit," told NBC News.
This isn`t the first robotic exoskeleton to walk off the drawing board and into reality. Hard metal and plastic outfits like those built by Bionics Research and Ekso Bionics and Parker Hannifin may not scream Tony Stark, but they`re already beginning to give paralyzed people the ability to rise out of their wheelchairs, step through doorways and tread on a wider range of terrains.
Yet unlike those existing exoskeletons, Walsh and his team`s soft exosuit will be more of an enhancer than an assistant. The soft suit is much lighter than the hard prosthetic exoskeletons, weighing just 7.5 kilograms (not including the air supply that drives the artificial "muscles"). Also, the suit relies on the existing movement of the legs as a person walks — its talent is adding a crucial nudge at the just right moment.
The suit`s performance was tested by five healthy members of the Wyss lab — all male — after they trained to use it for about three days. It`s confusing to react to the suit at first, but once a person adjusts to the push-and-pull of the suit, you feel the difference, Walsh said.