Rafe Needleman tried out Ekso Bionics’s new unpowered industrial exoskeleton:
The Ekso Works is a framework you strap yourself into that mechanically transmits the load of equipment attached to mounts at the hip, directly to the ground. You can walk, you can bend, and the gear is supported by the Ekso frame. The Ekso Works provides skeletal strength. You provide the balance and motivation.
To set up for my demo, Harding first handed me a 15-pound industrial angle grinder. It’s heavy, awkward, and a pretty uncomfortable piece of gear to control when it’s at arm’s length or overhead. Using one repetitively can cause stress injuries. Or, if you’re a lightweight like me, you’re likely to drop it on your toes after trying to control it for more than a few minutes.
But when the grinder was attached to a Steadicam-like articulated Equipois mount on the Ekso’s hip attachment point, it became weightless. It still had inertia, of course, but it didn’t weigh a thing, and I could wrench it around like it was a six-ounce pair of pliers. I could hold it over my head easily, and control it with precision. If I wanted to use it at arm’s length, I could do that, too; Counterweights attached to the Ekso’s plate on my back kept my center of gravity over my legs.
And I could walk. It was awkward because it was a new physical experience, but it wasn’t difficult.
One key to all the current Ekso products: The knees. They lock when you’re standing up, just like our real knees. That means that when you’re just standing there, no power input is required. The task of balancing, which does take some energy, is up to the person wearing the device. But as I discovered, even when wearing an elaborate cage of struts and joints, with a spring arm and industrial device strapped to your hip and pounds of steel counterweights on your back, you still know how to balance and walk.
It’s just asking for an M56 Smart Gun.