EVERYONE’S FAVORITE HUMANOID ROBOT ASTRONAUT GETS REBUILT AS A STRENGTH-BOOSTING POWER SUIT, FOR USE IN ORBIT AND HERE ON EARTH.
NASA’s Robonaut, and subsequent Robonaut 2, have made countless headlines for potentially replacing astronauts in space. But now, score one for the meatbags. NASA is redesigning their robotic platform as an exoskeleton for humans.
NASA's Robonaut (top) and Robonaut 2 (Bottom) - Click Images To Enlarge
Designed, fabricated, and assembled in just nine months with the assistance of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition as well as Oceaneering Space Systems of Houston, the X1 is an experimental motorized suit that could be wearable both by astronauts in space or everyday people back on Earth. Weighing 57 pounds, it’s designed to either inhibit or enhance human movement; astronauts can wear the device as a resistance-based exercise machine to stay fit in low gravity, while those with limited mobility could wear it to empower their actions back on the ground.
NASA's X1 Robotic Exoskeleton (Click Image To Enlarge)
The four motorized joints at the hips and knees work against or for the user to fit their specific use case, offering power or resistance appropriately. The exoskeleton itself is made of 10 total joints, the other six of which are passive, allowing flexible sidestepping, turning, etc.
But how did NASA adapt their Robonaut skeleton for humans? The key, Project Engineer Roger Rovekamp tells us, was reshaping and calibrating Robonaut’s motors for human use. Additionally, the team created a collection of mechanical safeties to protect soft human flesh inside a robotic frame.
NASA X1 Team (Click Image To Enlarge)
Rovekamp writes.
“Some of the concerns that people may not realize have to do with the inclusion of the added levels of safety that this type of device requires. Oftentimes requirements for safety and requirements for performance are at odds, and in these cases a tough decision has to be made where the engineers must balance the correct level of safety with the appropriate level of performance. Fortunately this is something NASA has become very good at.”
NASA's X1 Robotic Exoskeleton (Click Image To Enlarge)
In terms of ease of use, Rovekamp calls the system “intuitive” but references room for improvement. The largest issue is adjusting the X1 to fit people of various shapes and sizes. Currently, their design requires a tool to make this possible, but NASA aims to make these adjustments self-contained.
NASA's X1 Robotic Exoskeleton (Click Image To Enlarge)
Rovekamp explains.
“[A tool-free design] is ideal for the space environment where small objects tend to want to float away, but it could also be a useful feature here on Earth.”
Indeed, nothing ruins the mood of afterburner-kicking an extraterrestrial supervillain more than pulling out a wrench to tighten a loose boot. NASA had better get to work.
COMMENTARY: I definitely see a need for a robotic exoskeleton suit like the X1 in the health and medical device industries, especially for patients recovering from strokes and other mobility issues. There is actually quite a large amount of research in developing robotic exoskeleton suits within the U.S. military. In a blog post dated July 25, 2011, I profiled Raytheon's XOS2 Robotic Exoskeleton Body Suit, which is being tested by the U.S. Army. In blog article dated March 16, 2011, I wrote about Cyberdine, Inc, the inventor of "HAL", a wearable strap-on Cybor-robotic exoskeleton that can expand and improve physical capability and Lockheed Martin developer of HULC, a titanium hydraulic-powered "anthropomorphic exoskeleton" that may ultimately go a little way toward transforming soldiers into superhumans.
Courtesy of an article dated October 31, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
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