Items tagged with Exoskeleton
Researchers in France have developed an exoskeleton suit that can be manipulated with a person's mind, via a surgical brain computer interface (BCI) implant. This suit allowed a paralyzed man to move both his arms and legs for the first time since suffering an injury that left him without the ability to perform those motor functions. His name is Thibault (he did not want to share his surname), and he used to be an optician. Now 30 years old, Thibault fell around 50 feet at a night club four years ago, which injured his spinal cord and left him paralyzed. He spent two years in the hospital. In 2017, however, he agreed to participate in a joint exoskeleton trial between Clinatec, a biomedical research...
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For people who work jobs that have them performing the same exact movements for hours a day each day, on-the-job repetitive stress injuries are a big concern. Ford wants to help its employees be safer and have fewer injuries, which in turn prevents worker pain and helps keep things rolling in the factory. To help its workers who reach over their heads multiple times per day, Ford has announced that it will be rolling out exoskeletons to some of those workers. The exoskeleton is called the EksoVest built by Ekso Bionics. This isn’t the sort of exoskeleton designed to make the worker stronger or allow them to lift more. EksoVest is a device that offers passive arm support for 5-15 pounds...
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Hyundai Motor Group isn't just working on fancy new cars these days, it's also dabbling in robotics. It may have a bright future in the field, too—the automaker posted a handful of photos showing off a wearable robot suit that's not totally unlike the one Tony Stark built in Iron Man (minus the electromagnetic chest piece and ability to fly). The exoskeleton was a joint effort between Hyundai Motor Group, Hyundai Rotem Co., and Kia Motors. It's not clear exactly where the technology will end up, though Hyundai says its robot suits can be used in a wide variety of fields, including (but not limited to) production plants and national defense. "This wearable robot that we are developing for commercial...
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Building exoskeletons to aid persons or animals is nothing new, and in recent years, we've seen numerous examples of them being built with the use of 3D printing. For those who need them, they can reintroduce some lost capability back into their lives or introduce new-found capability. However, as the US Army has now proven, they can be used for other things, as well. Think Deus Ex-like augmentations. The result of mechanical engineer Dan Baechle's efforts is MAXFAS, a mechanical arm exoskeleton that's designed to improve the accuracy of a person's gun aim. It's to be used both on and off the field, and offers a variety of benefits to both novice and skilled shooting veteran alike. For the novice,...
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Technology isn't just about improving the speed of graphics cards to push more pixels on a display, nor is it limited to the pursuit of bigger and faster storage devices, though we're fans of such advancements. More than that, we're passionate about technology because of the wonderful things it can accomplish. Case in point, at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil this year, the first kick will be made by a teenager who is paralyzed from the waist down. Say what? There's no voodoo magic involved, just awesome technology. The teen will use a mechanical exoskeleton that he'll control with his brain. Yes, it sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, but it's real, and it's going to happen very soon....
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3D Systems announced that it has collaborated with EksoBionics to build a 3D-printed hybrid exoskeleton robotic suit that ostensibly will allow users with paralysis of the lower extremities to walk upright. A woman named Amanda Boxel was the test pilot for the suit (although this isn’t the first time she’s tested a prototype of this sort),and you can see in the photos that she indeed is standing up and taking steps without any third-party human assistance. Boxel has been paralyzed from the waist down ever since suffering a freak injury in a skiing accident 22 years ago. (Skip to about 1:30 in the video below to see Boxel walk.) “After years of dreaming about it, I am deeply...
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A couple of months ago, we caught wind of a curious and somewhat dark story about a law student who was attempting to develop schematics for a 3D-printable gun (only to have his 3D printer seized when the leasing company, Stratasys, caught wind of what he was doing). Wherever you fall on that particular issue, it brought to mind some of the potential dangers and pitfalls of the burgeoning 3D printing industry. This story is the exact opposite of that. A little girl named Emma was born with a congenital disorder known as arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC) that results in hooked or curved joints and muscle weakness. Emma struggled to move her arms and in fact didn’t have the strength...
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Exoskeletons definitely have military uses, but what about something for regular folks? You might think none of them would need an exoskeleton, but there's an obvious use case: paraplegics. On Thursday, Berkeley Bionics, an San Francisco Bay Area company founded in 2005, unveiled what it calls eLEGS. eLEGS stands for Exoskeleton Lower Extremity Gait System. eLEGS is designed to help paraplegics stand up and walk on their own. Berkeley Bionics has previously developed exoskeletons for military use. The product consists of a pair of "smart crutches" as well as the exoskeleton, which is made of steel and carbon fiber and weighs 45 pounds. The lithium-ion battery packs give the system enough power...
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With all this talk of the new Terminator flick, we can't begin to think of a more timely announcement for this particular news bit. The HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) Cybernetic Suit, described as an exoskeleton and designed to give average humans superhuman abilities, is just about to hit mass production. If you'll recall, we first caught wind of this very system way back in October 2006, and just now its creator is getting around to pumping these out with any semblance of regularity. And we guess it makes sense -- what's the actual market demand for a suit like this, anyway? Founding company Cyberdyne has teamed up with Daiwa House in order to "begin mass production" of the cybernetic bodysuit...
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The fashionable soldier of tomorrow will rip off the flak jacket and store the camo for a trip to the mall. If the military magnates at Raytheon have their way, soldiers will be donning futuristic exoskeletons before heading into combat. Sweet! Described as a "wearable robot" on the Raytheon site, the exoskeleton looks extremely clunky...yet strangely super cool. After watching a video of an engineer ripping through a solid set of pull downs of a 200 lbs, we were wondering where we could score a pair of robotic arms for our next workout.Raytheon tied the release of their super suit to the big-screen release of blockbuster flick "Iron Man," but we're not sure of the bigger surprise -- a sober...
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