Design Summary and Analysis Draft #2

In the article “It’s 2019 – Where’s My Supersuit?”, Zelik (2019) writes about the remarkable features and the benefits 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. In the earlier years, the disadvantages of the exoskeletons 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 one application. 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, made by Harvard faculty member Conor Walsh and his team of researchers, 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, para. 4). A cable actuation system is also installed right above the hip to “apply a tensile force between the waist belt and thigh wraps to generate an external extension torque at the hip joint that works in concert with the gluteal muscles” (Boettner, 2019, para. 6). According to the techcrunch website, the suit is able to minimise the effort used by decreasing the metabolic load of walking and running by percentages of 9.4 and 4 respectively. 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, para. 1). 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.

Another application is rehabilitation. The “Soft Robotic Exosuit” is capable of providing mobility assistance to patients that have movement disorder. Based on the Wyss Institute website, the mechanical power from the cable actuation system will allow the suit to supply “gait-restoring forces” to the affected limb of the patient (Boettner, 2017, para. 7). Due to the exosuit’s assistance, the functional asymmetry between the disabled leg and non-disabled leg has been reduced.

  

In conclusion, the implementation of the technical devices by Walsh and his team has created more applications as compared to 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.

Reference

Boettner, B. (2017). Post-stroke patients reach terra firma with Wyss Institute’s exosuit technology. Retrieved and adapted from https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/post-stroke-patients-reach-terra-firma-with-wyss-exosuit-technology/

Boettner, B. (2019). Suit up with a robot to walk AND run more easily. Retrieved and adapted from https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/suit-up-with-a-robot-to-walk-and-run-more-easily/

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/

Wyss Institute. (n.d.). Soft Exosuits for Lower Extremity Mobility. Retrieved and adapted from

https://wyss.harvard.edu/technology/soft-exosuits-for-lower-extremity-mobility/

Zelik, K. (2019). It's 2019 - where’s my super suit. Retrieved and adapted from https://theconversation.com/its-2019-wheres-my-supersuit-115679