Design Summary and Analysis Final Draft
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, which is providing a back-support system. Researchers from Wyss
institute have created an exoskeleton that have more applications, such as
assistance in mobility and rehabilitation.
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 Wyss 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.
One of the applications developed for
the Wyss exosuit 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 Wyss exosuit is one
of the main options for the military due to its lightweight design and the
system to determine the individual gait mechanics.
An application for rehabilitation
is also developed for the Wyss exosuit, which provides 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 will be reduced hence, making their movement
more efficient.
In
conclusion, the implementation of the technical devices by Walsh and his team has
created more applications to assist the users as compared to Zelik’s product.
Additional features such as a micro-processor to determine the users’ gait
mechanics enable the Wyss 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
Zelik, K. (2019). It's 2019 -
where’s my super suit. Retrieved and adapted from https://theconversation.com/its-2019-wheres-my-supersuit-115679
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