Robotic trousers may sound like the far-fetched stuff of cartoons such as Wallace and Gromit, but the latest in wearable technologies, according to one European university team, could be a serious breakthrough for people with additional mobility needs, bringing closer “a future in which assistive technologies empower humans to achieve exceptional feats, even in old age.”
Worn over the top of clothes to propel legs
Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a system called WalkON, which is essentially a pair of robotic shorts incorporating “a compact and lightweight tendon-driven design, using a controller based on natural leg movements to autonomously assist leg propagation,” a paper published in Nature magazine said.
The system can recognise how fast a wearer is walking as well as the weight of the wearer’s legs, and then adapt the amount of hip flexion support it gives the wearer automatically. Designed to be worn over the top of other clothes, it requires no pre-set-up or settings and can be donned and ready-to-go in minutes.
Metabolic “costs” reduced
It was tested first on a group of young “healthy” adults on a 500-metre uphill walking trail. The young adults, who reported a high sense of control over their own movements while wearing the device, were found to have 17.79% reduction in their “metabolic cost of transport”.
When this was later verified on a group of adults aged 67 years and older, their sense of control was similarly high, and their metabolic saving was, while less, still over 10%.
The team behind the innovation hailed its potential for improving the lives of senior citizens, and those living with and recovering from physical challenges, saying, “These findings emphasize the potential of wearable assistive devices to improve efficiency in outdoor walking, suggesting promising implications for promoting physical well-being and advancing mobility, particularly during the later stages of life.”
A gamechanger for assisted walking and general fitness
The shorts mean that “older individuals could cover greater distances with reduced fatigue, thereby enhancing their autonomy and mobility,” the research team said. But as well as having medical and therapeutic uses, building endurance, and removing physical constraints that limit independence and quality of life, the robotic shorts could be a game-changer in terms of fitness for the more general population too, the scientists suggest.
“We have developed a system that makes people want to move around more,” said TUM Professor Lorenzio Masia. “It’s the same concept as the electric bike, but for walking.”
