Georgia Tech Engineers Design an Exosuit for Awkward Lifting
The Asymmetric Back eXosuit (ABX) enables wearers to twist and turn while picking up heavy loads.
Engineers from Georgia Tech have created an exosuit that enables users to lift heavy objects through natural motion. Exosuits for moving heavy objects have been around for a while and often use passive technology, such as springs, to transfer the weight from the wearer to the ground. They are often cumbersome and stiff and only allow for limited motion, which restricts the wearer to moving objects on a vertical plane, much like a forklift.
It’s difficult to classify Georgia Tech’s Asymmetric Back eXosuit (ABX) as an exosuit, considering it doesn’t use an exoskeleton or any rigid structure that makes contact with the ground. If the wearer remains still, the ABX does nothing but adds 14-pounds of weight to the user’s hips, but when they lean over, a pair of motors kick in and help rotate their torso, allowing them to twist. The motor assistance removes the shear force applied to the spine, allowing the wearer to bend and twist freely.
The team designed the ABX using overlapping cables that connect to the motors and a shoulder harness. Since the cables are overlapping, the motion it provides is horizontal and exerts pull on the wearer’s torso that aids twisting from one side to another. Assistance is provided by applying tension to the cables when moving from a bent posture.
In tests, the engineers showed that wearers of the ABX platform reduced their back muscle activations by an average of 16% as they swung an object from the ground to one side, which they measured using electromyography (EMG) sensors. The exosuit also provided a 37% reduction in back muscle exertion when a wearer lifted weights symmetrically, straight off the ground, which is on par with some rigid systems. The team is currently looking for industry partners to develop the ABX exosuit further.
