Exoskeletons have been serving to paraplegic sufferers to stroll for years, however the newest improvement from KAIST is slightly completely different. The WalkON Swimsuit F1 can amble over to a affected person seated in a wheelchair, wrap itself across the legs and physique, and get the consumer up and strolling.
Professor Kyoung-Chul Kong from KAIST’s Division of Mechanical Engineering has been engaged on exoskeletons for round a decade, with the primary WalkON Swimsuit being revealed in 2016. By 2020, the analysis group had elevated the strolling velocity to three.2 km/h (1.98 mph) and entered the fourth-generation prototype into the Cybathlon in Switzerland.
This “cyborg Olympics” was launched in 2016 by ETH Zurich to drive advances in assistive applied sciences. The primary occasion was held close to Zurich and attracted groups from 25 nations, and noticed 66 “pilots” compete for the highlight. 4 years later, pilots sporting KAIST’s WalkON Swimsuit 4.0 positioned first and third within the Exoskeleton Race occasion. The third Cybathlon occurred this previous weekend, with Professor Kong’s group fielding the newest improvement from the WalkON engineers.
WalkON Swimsuit F1: The Subsequent-Gen Exoskeleton That Walks Itself
The place different exoskeletons require helpers to lift paralyzed sufferers out of their wheelchairs earlier than strapping them to the assistive gadgets, the WalkON Swimsuit F1 can “stroll by itself like a humanoid robotic” and method the affected person. It encompasses a front-docking system which means the paraplegic consumer can stay seated because the exoskeleton installs itself across the physique and legs of the affected person.
There is a system in place “that actively controls the middle of its weight towards the pull of gravity” to forestall it toppling over because the consumer is assisted right into a standing place. Total steadiness has been tweaked to allow the usage of each fingers whereas upright, together with quick bursts while not having a supporting cane. The highly effective motors and management algorithms have been considerably improved in comparison with earlier variations, and the setup even sports activities imaginative and prescient recognition for impediment detection.
KAIST
Paraplegic Seunghwan Kim – the engineering lab’s workers researcher – served as pilot for the 2024 Cybathlon’s exoskeleton competitors. Although some groups made the journey to Switzerland to compete, Professor Kong’s group elected to stay broadcast its try from particular amenities of the corporate he arrange in 2017 to commercialize wearable robots, Angel Robotics.
Groups have been challenged with finishing numerous missions inside a good time slot, together with “transferring by sidesteps between slim chairs, transferring packing containers, strolling freely unassisted by crutches, passing by means of a slim door and shutting it behind, and dealing on meals preparation within the kitchen.”
KAIST
It took Kim and the WalkON Swimsuit F1 6 minutes and 41 seconds to finish all missions, and safe first place. Second place went to a Swiss group and third to Thai engineers, although neither of those managed to complete all duties throughout the allotted 10 minutes.
“The assorted know-how and core applied sciences amassed whereas getting ready for this competitors is to contribute to additional improvement and propagation of wearable robots, scary creativeness to attract on the way forward for wearable robots and on the way it could change our every day lives,” reads a KAIST press launch detailing the win.
WalkON Swimsuit F1: The Subsequent-Gen Exoskeleton That Walks Itself
Supply: KAIST
