Wearable Robotic Equipment for the Modern Pilgrim

[jirit]

Just in time maybe for the 2021 Holy Year?

Imagine if you had a magical pair of trousers that made your backpack feel just that bit lighter, or that preserved the fluid joint movements of your youth as you age.

This is slowly becoming a reality.

In a study published Thursday in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, researchers at Harvard University lay out their latest updates on an exosuit that they’ve been working on for the last two years.

“The aim is to develop wearable robots that can augment the performance of healthy individuals by reducing their energy expenditure when walking with heavy loads,” said Conor Walsh, study co-author and an associate professor of engineering and applied sciences at Harvard, over email.

The exosuit is made up of a waist belt, two thigh pieces, and two calf straps. Cables connect these to two motors mounted on a backpack. The suit activates when the wearer starts walking, transferring energy from the motors via the cables to the wearer, and putting an extra spring in their step. The researchers envision that it could be used in military, medical, and recreational applications.

https://motherboard.vice.com/read/t...twitter.com&utm_campaign=Epoca+Now+via+Buffer

 

[koilife]

No "true pilgrim" would use it.

But the real question for debate here is whether "robogrinos" should receive the Compostella, as robotic underwear gets us that much closer to daily life in a field of stars. And maybe the pilgrim's office could ask Watson whether the robogrinos walked for religious or spiritual or cultural or athletic or sheer hedonistic reasons by analyzing their sellos and sensor data in the robotic exoskeleton. And prospective robogrinos can plan their dates using a 360 day weather forecast.

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

Just in time maybe for the 2021 Holy Year?

Imagine if you had a magical pair of trousers that made your backpack feel just that bit lighter, or that preserved the fluid joint movements of your youth as you age.

This is slowly becoming a reality.

In a study published Thursday in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, researchers at Harvard University lay out their latest updates on an exosuit that they’ve been working on for the last two years.

“The aim is to develop wearable robots that can augment the performance of healthy individuals by reducing their energy expenditure when walking with heavy loads,” said Conor Walsh, study co-author and an associate professor of engineering and applied sciences at Harvard, over email.

The exosuit is made up of a waist belt, two thigh pieces, and two calf straps. Cables connect these to two motors mounted on a backpack. The suit activates when the wearer starts walking, transferring energy from the motors via the cables to the wearer, and putting an extra spring in their step. The researchers envision that it could be used in military, medical, and recreational applications.

https://motherboard.vice.com/read/t...twitter.com&utm_campaign=Epoca+Now+via+Buffer

Actually the advances are already here. Check out the levitation knee brace.



They begin shipping in September this year.

 

[jirit]

No "true pilgrim" would use it.

But the real question for debate here is whether "robogrinos" should receive the Compostella, as robotic underwear gets us that much closer to daily life in a field of stars. And maybe the pilgrim's office could ask Watson whether the robogrinos walked for religious or spiritual or cultural or athletic or sheer hedonistic reasons by analyzing their sellos and sensor data in the robotic exoskeleton. And prospective robogrinos can plan their dates using a 360 day weather forecast.

The pilgrim office will have to add another category - by foot, by bike, by bike, or by robotics?

 

[GreatDane]

Actually the advances are already here. Check out the levitation knee brace. They begin shipping in September this year.

Yikes! Each is $1750 though they claim some insurance will cover the cost. Though maybe this style brace would have made my post Camino knee tendonitis more comfortable...

 

[PEI_Heather]

If someone who was destined for life in a wheelchair and was able to walk the Camino in a robosuit, I'll bet he or she would be there at his/her chosen starting point in jig time. (Meaning fast: a jig is a fast little tune.)
These exosuits are one of many wonders humans have created, to (for one) provide more freedom for people who want more from life than what four wheels can provide them. (Not that they are not grateful for the wheelchairs they have; but the exoskeletons will/can offer far more modility.
I'd say if someone arrived at the Pilgrim's Office after traveling--walking--100 or 400 or 800 km by such technology, the volunteers would happily present a Compostela to him or her, as a true pilgrim arriving into Santiago! I would!

 

[Mark Lee]

I can definitely see the breakthroughs for those with physical disabilities and restrictions, but for a healthy, non-disabled or restricted person? No way. I would have to wonder, why? The human body is made to be worked physically otherwise muscles atrophy.

 

[jirit]

We are already in world where people are using artificial devices to replace worn body parts (knees, hips, pace makers, insulin pumps, etc) and wearables (orthopaedic soles, shoes, glasses, tights, dentures, etc) to enhance and/or provide support.

Humans over the centuries have used clothing, devices, equipment to offer security, protection, safety, mobility, accessibility, and modesty.

This trend will only continue. Even in a short amount of time, the smart phone has become a necessary wearable.

Just a matter of time when bio nano digital manufacturing will be used to create custom bionic parts, organs and tissues. Think artificial ears, eyes, limbs, organs, etc.

Might be hard one day to decide which pilgrims are human and which are bionic.

Even today very few of us can call ourselves 100 % organic pilgrims, whatever that might mean.

 

[koilife]

Even today very few of us can call ourselves 100 % organic pilgrims, whatever that might mean.

Like the frozen, plastic smile I wear when suffering through a total lack of charity?