The exoskeleton, called the Fortis, is a lightweight, unpowered suit that increases the wearer’s strength and endurance by transferring the weight of heavy loads from the operator to the frame of the device.
Wednesday, October 01, 2014
Could Exoskeleton Suits Make an Appearance on the Jobsite?
The exoskeleton, called the Fortis, is a lightweight, unpowered suit that increases the wearer’s strength and endurance by transferring the weight of heavy loads from the operator to the frame of the device.
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7 comments:
This is an interesting idea, but one that I am not sure will take off in the workplace. Besides the inconvenience of taking the exoskeleton on and off, it raises some questions for me: does it need to be worn in a specific way to work properly? Does it adjust for people of different shapes and sizes? How does it influence flexibility and sideways movement? I am interested to know more about the product, and to see how it takes off.
This is such a cool idea; not only does it help keep the worker's muscles and joints from being damaged by heavy lifting in the workplace, it makes them stronger too! My first thought, though, is how easy it is to take on and off and how comfortable it is to wear. I assume it has to be able to move smoothly to be able to take the pressure off of lifting, but it looks constricting. I'm also wondering if you wear it over or under your other clothes. I want to know more about this cool technology.
I think this is a good first step. While it may be helpful in some contexts, I doubt it would be very useful in most everyday use. It will be interesting to see how the users of these suits adapt them over time to their needs.
The fault in this concept is that it gives the wearer more strength from their feet to their back but there isn't anything assisting in the wearers arms where they will actually be supporting the weight. So such claims as making a 36 pound load effortless I feel is not an accurate statement. Its a great idea towards passive assistance when it comes to posture and how workers carry themselves and that it is a completely unpowered unit. I have seen demo and concept videos of other units that are powered and assist with loads and speed of movement when it comes to the wearers walking/running ability. I do not se this becoming a common accessory for the workplace because the appendages seem to me like they would cause more problems and just get in the way, cause hang ups and create an opportunity for more items fixed to a worker that they aren't constantly aware of what it may be interfering with. then it will actually be useful.
This si the future I have always wanted. Until there are people walking around in super suits on a daily basis, technology is letting me down. But man is everyone else hating on this. First in response to Sean, it actually does have arm support just not in that picture, maybe do a little more research? And before dismissing something based on a very short relatively uninformative article everyone should be going a little deeper. I might be the optimist here but how well this works does not really matter to me. This is the first one. This is the first attempt at selling super suits to a broad market. That means there is a market for it. It is not like Lockheed Martin would ever do anything that didn't make them money. So even if this isn't the greatest one ever much like the iphone, and computers, there will be iterations. It will get better. And if when I am 80 I want to jump 20 feet into the air, who is gonna stop me when I am in a super suit.
I know I wouldn’t be the first to say that working on a job site all day, can become exhausting fairly quickly. Of course a suit like this would be used for particular jobs, but as the article says, it helps with weight distribution. By the looks of it, it’s a fairly small frame, so it doesn’t seem like it would get in the way, but I think that is dependent upon a person’s size and what type of tool they are using. I know there are different developments of an exoskeleton for people who are trying to regain muscle strength in their legs after an injury. Of course that type is a bit more heavy duty, bulkier, and has some robotics attached with it. But it’s technology like this exoskeleton designed to fit snug and be lightweight on the body that not allows workers to be more efficient in their jobs, but also makes life a little easier.
This sounds like a great idea that needs some more refinement before it can be properly implemented in the workplace. Although there are clear benefits for soldiers, and a way to reduce the physical strain of a workload on anybody by 300% sounds alluring, there are some small issues at play, the biggest of which is in where the exoskeleton reduces stress from. Not all forms of heavy labor put intense stress on one's legs and back, some put more stress on the arms and/or hands. Yes the exoskeleton sounds like a great idea both on the battlefield and here at home where it can reduce the strain of heavy load intensive work, but there needs to be more refinement before the structure becomes universally beneficial to workers in all industries.
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