Robotic shorts promise to keep the elderly active
Marie Donlon
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November 18, 2024
A team of researchers at Germany’s Technical University of Munich (TUM) has created robotic shorts that promise to help keep the elderly as well as frail individuals mobile and subsequently healthy for longer periods of time.
The aptly named WalkOn shorts work much like the technology behind electric bikes, wherein the system detects and measures movement and then augments it with power from motors. Specifically, as the wearer transitions from standing to walking, two thin, artificial tendons that extend from the wearer’s thigh to the waist belt will pull upward simultaneously, thereby relieving some of the load on the hip flexors. Meanwhile, a measuring device attached to the tendons will negotiate the hip angle and velocity and the device will send a signal to the motors precisely at the transition to the swing phase of walking.
Source: TUM
“The system recognizes how fast or slowly the person is moving, adapts to the respective weight of the legs and provides individual support accordingly. WalkOn looks more like clothing and is no bigger than a small rucksack overall,” the team noted.
During trials of the technology, the team discovered that when a young person wearing the robotic shorts walked 500 meters up hill, the expended energy — otherwise known as the metabolic cost — was reduced by 18%, versus the energy expended with unaided walking. Additionally, when trialed on an older person walking 400 meters on level ground with the robotic shorts, expended energy was reduced by more than 10%.
An article detailing the robotic shorts, “Soft robotic shorts improve outdoor walking efficiency in older adults,” appears in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence.
For more on the robotic shorts, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of TUM.