Design Summary and Analysis Draft #1
In the article “Where’s My
Supersuit in Conversation”, Zelik (2019) writes about the remarkable features
and the pros and cons of the wearable exoskeletons developed by his research
team. The main function of the exoskeletons, which is described as “mechanized
clothing” is to reduce the workload and aid those with spinal injuries by
providing a back-support system. At the same time, disadvantages such as
unaffordability and bulkiness cause the design to be less appealing to the
public. The author Zelik describes the design as a vest that consists of common
clothing materials along with the assistive fabric elastic band and a switch
that allows user to turn the suit’s assistance on or off. Once the switch is
turned off, the user will be able to move “freely and fully”. Furthermore, due
to the absence of any motors, batteries and protruding parts, the design makes
the suit portable and seamless.
Even though the exoskeletons
developed by Zelik and his research team possess notable features, they are limited
to only providing back support for people who carry heavy loads. Team of
researchers from other institutes have created products that have more applications.
One of such products is the “Soft
Robotic Exosuit”. Similar to the exoskeleton developed by Zelik, this
exoskeleton is designed with soft clothing materials to allow the users to move
freely and with little restrictions to their movement. Based on the Wyss
Institute website, the “Soft Robotic Exosuit” is made up of fabrics that are
specially constructed to make it lightweight and provides the least limitation
on the users’ mobility as opposed to the rigid designs introduced by engineers
in earlier years.
There are multiple applications for
the “Soft Robotic Exosuit”. One of them is to provide aid in terms of mobility
for the wearer. The exosuit are installed with onboard micro-processor that “detects the movements of the wearer’s body and
determines both the type of gait (walking or running) and what phase of that
gait the leg is currently in. It gives the leg making the movement a little
boost, making it just that much easier to do it” (Coldeway, 2019). According
to the techcrunch website, the suit is able
to minimise the effort used by decreasing the metabolic load of walking by 9.3%
and running by 4%. This allows the wearer to move faster with lesser effort,
thus improving efficiency on movement. With such functions, the physical load
on soldiers, firefighters, paramedics and factory workers will be greatly
reduced. In fact, according to the website from army-technology, the US Army “has
been exploring commercial exoskeleton technologies for potential military
applications, which can be used to support strength and endurance and protect
soldiers from strain injury” (Husseini, 2019). The “Soft Robotic Exosuit” is
one of the main options for the military due to its lightweight design and the
system to determine the individual gait mechanics.
In
conclusion, the implementation of the statistic parameters set out by the
researchers from Wyss Institute has surpassed the statistical data available
from Zelik’s product. Additional features such as a micro-processor to
determine the users’ gait mechanics enable the “Soft Robotic Exosuit” to have a
cutting edge over the exoskeletons made by Zelik, by enhancing the form, fit and
function on its intended use via the exoskeleton. However, it is to be noted
that the intended use associated with both exoskeletons are of different
comparison hence it is up to the end user of the product to define the intended
use.
Reference
Zelik, K. (2019). It's 2019 - where’s my
super suit. Retrieved and adapted from https://theconversation.com/its-2019-wheres-my-supersuit-115679
Wyss Institute. (n.d.). Soft
Exosuits for Lower Extremity Mobility. Retrieved and adapted from
Coldewey, D. (2019). These
robo-shorts are the precursor to a true soft exoskeleton. Retrieved and
adapted from https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/15/these-robo-shorts-are-the-precursor-to-a-true-soft-exoskeleton/
Husseini, T. (2019). US Army
trials exoskeletons for military use. Retrieved and adapted from https://www.army-technology.com/features/us-army-exoskeletons/
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