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Otherlab Working on a 'Fundamental Jump' in Technology for Exoskeletons (Video)

Posted by Roblimo on from the was-it-a-man-or-was-it-a-robot? dept.

"Otherlab," says their projects page, "is a private Research and Development company with a number of core competencies. We welcome industrial partnerships and commercialization partners. We have worked with dozens of companies globally from small start-ups to multi-nationals and Fortune 500 businesses. We develop enabling new technologies through an emphasis on prototyping coupled to rigorous physics simulation and mathematical models. We develop our own design tools because it's lonely at the frontier and to create new things and ideas, you often have to create the tools to design them." | One of their projects is building low-cost, inflatable exoskeletons that can be used as prosthetics or -- one presumes -- as strength multipliers for people who have working limbs. This is the project today's interviewee, Tim Swift, is working on. (Alternate Video Link)

2 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds like PR Hype to me. by gurps_npc · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Look, the main issue everyone has with exoskeletons is the same issue we have with jetpacks - power limitations.

    Batteries are heavy. It takes an awful lot of energy to even give someone human strength, not counting the additional costs to carry the battery and the exoskeleton itself.

    As such, all exoskeletons suits currently in development either are tethered to a wall plug or have a ridiculously low battery capacity.

    A couple of people tried to make it work using fuel powered engines (gasoline, etc.) to power the , but those are also heavy once again resulting in shortened times between re-fueling.

    Even if you eliminate the dead weight of human limbs, (ie. small pack bots) the operating time is too short for things

    Anyone that makes a significant improvement in this area would not portray it as "working exoskeleton", but instead as "INCREDIBLY LONG LIFE BATTERY/GENERATOR".

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  2. A real fundamental jump would be by Spy+Handler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    a power source that isn't crappy. That would enable exoskeletons and robots that are useful.

    If you watch the demo videos, they all either have a power cord dangling off the exoskeleton/robot (presumably plugged into A/C mains) or an annoyingly loud and smoky 2-stroke generator running onboard. That's because current batteries provide nowhere near enough juice to power these suits/robots to any degree of usefulness.

    We aren't lacking in servo/microcontroller/robotics tech, we're lacking a decent battery tech.