IEEE Future Directions
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Continuing on in looking at the disruptive technologies identified by the Imperial College foresight study that are likely to impact from 2030 on let’s consider the ones clustered in the Human Augmentation set: Powered Exoskeleton and Human bio-hacking.
Powered Exoskeleton
There are already today quite a number of companies offering exoskeletons to augment human capacity in a broad range of applications. Military have been looking at exoskeleton for quite a while, as a way to let soldiers carry heavier equipment in the field (take a look at the video clip showing a variety of military applications). Interestingly, military are looking at exoskeleton evolution where the exoskeleton is actually a sophisticated robot entering in a symbiotic relation with the soldier. It does not stop there. There will be many symbiotic robot-soldiers and they might end up creating a swarm of symbiotic entity changing the meaning of a battalion.
Although the military field is possibly the most advanced (Lockheed Martin is clearly a player in this area, Chinese companies are coming up strong in the military field as well) we see applications of exoskeletons today in two main areas, on an experimental base: in manufacturing and in rehabilitation.
SuitX is offering industrial exoskeletons in various shapes to fit different needs of industry, from helping workers carry heavy loads to working in tiring positions (like having to keep your arms up for hours in a row to work under a car chassis), from performing dangerous activities to climbing many steps every day (like poles inspectors).
ExsoBionics offers exoskeletons tailored to rehabs of patients with spinal chord injury and those having to recover from a stroke that impacted their movements.
It is today reality, their EksoGT product is being used in over 200 rehabs centres and according to EksoBionics these exoskeletons have already taken over 86 million steps helping people to exercise and regain control of movements or, at least, to keep their muscles in good shape.
These are just two examples, one in each area, but there are several other companies offering exoskeletons, like ReWalk and Rex Bionics. ReWalk is targeting paralysed patients enabling them the possibility to walk again. In this case the exoskeleton, Personal 6.0, is truly a robot assisting the patient taking over the movement of her lower limbs.
Why is Imperial College placing exoskeleton in the 2030 timeframe, given there are already quite a number on the market today?
The reason is that today’s exoskeletons are bulky and are not seamlessly integrated in the human body. They are not providing any feedback -feeling- to the person’s brain and therefore it is not natural at all to use them. The person has to focus her undivided attention on the prosthetics to have it operating correctly. Give it 15 more years and we are likely to see exoskeletons becoming much more integrated in the human body, actually they may live in a symbiotic relationship with it to the point that the brain will perceive them as a natural extension of the body and will create an image of the exoskeleton in its neurones, as today it has an image of the hand, of the fingers… This step is crucial to operate the exoskeleton below the perceptual level, the same way you can touch the tip of your nose with your finger, keeping your eyes shut. This would be impossible with today’s exoskeleton.
Of course once we will reach that kind of symbioses their range of application will extend dramatically and most of the times they will be used not to fill a gap (a disability) but to augment our capabilities.
