The idea
, assistant professor of mechanical engineering,聽and recent Ph.D. graduate Erik P. Lamers聽revealed聽a聽new exosuit聽designed to bring back relief to workers聽who have been under high strain throughout the pandemic,聽including聽last-mile delivery drivers and essential workers. The suit can redirect forces on the body and聽extend capabilities and applications of聽existing occupational exoskeletons, which聽are generally聽ill-suited聽for聽workers聽like delivery drivers聽climbing in and out of vehicles.聽Zelik and his team聽previously introduced聽a聽low-profile, lightweight exosuit produced by his聽spinoff company聽.
Why it matters
Low back pain聽is a leading cause of disability,聽resulting in聽聽and聽more than聽$100 billion in聽costs in聽the U.S.聽annually. Back pain聽from聽overexertion injuries聽is especially common in industries requiring repetitive bending and lifting.聽Exosuits聽have potential to improve safety and provide聽back relief to millions of workers聽in essential industries such as聽logistics, construction, manufacturing, military and health care.
What鈥檚 next
Zelik aims to commercialize this聽new spin on assistive exosuits聽in the next few years.聽鈥淭here are still so many essential workers聽who聽cannot聽yet聽use existing聽exoskeletons or聽exosuits聽to help them due to their聽unique聽job聽constraints,鈥� Zelik said. 鈥淭his聽new聽design has the聽potential to bring physical relief to people in jobs that聽are currently unserved and who聽deserve聽the聽support.鈥�
Funding
This work was partially funded by the National Institutes of Health grant R01EB028105.
Go deeper聽
The article, 鈥淒esign, Modeling, and Demonstration of a New Dual-Mode Back-Assist Exosuit with Extension Mechanism,鈥� was published in the journal聽Wearable Technologies聽on聽March 24. .