Summary_Reader Response Draft #2

 The article “Where’s My Supersuit?” Zelik (2019) talks about recent developments that have been made in the world of wearable exoskeletons, or “supersuits”. 

Early exoskeletons have been created to assist the elderlies, the physically impaired and jobs that are physically intensive. The article introduces an improved version that can be toggleable with a switch. It utilizes springs and assistive fabric elastic bands, woven into a cloth-based material. The improved supersuit solves the issues of its predecessors by allowing it to be worn for longer periods of time without wearing out the user. 

Lastly, Zelik wants to incorporate sensors and machine learning into the supersuits in the future. He believes that the introduction of these components will allow these supersuits to assist many more industries, such as in the medical and sport industry. He also wishes that in about 30 years time, these supersuits will be accessible to the general public. 

Current exoskeletons are limited in terms of their practicality and comfort. With future developments in exoskeletons fitted with wearable sensors, biomechanical algorithms and neck supports, it will further enhance the lives of users.

The article “Where’s My Supersuit?” Zelik (2019) talks about recent developments that have been made in the world of wearable exoskeletons, or “supersuits”. Early exoskeletons have been created to assist the elderlies, the physically impaired and jobs that are physically intensive. The article introduces an improved version that can be toggleable with a switch. It utilizes springs and assistive fabric elastic bands, woven into a cloth-based material. The improved supersuit solves the issues of its predecessors by allowing it to be worn for longer periods of time without wearing out the user. Current exoskeletons are limited in terms of their practicality and comfort. With future developments in exoskeletons fitted with wearable sensors, biomechanical algorithms and neck supports, it will further enhance the lives of users.

Latest developments in exoskeletons have allowed for greater adaptations into more industries as the range of movements they possess have drastically been increased. According to Zhu, M., Sun, Z., Chen, T. et al (2021), the use of new sensors being implemented into newer exoskeletons have allowed for them to be easily suited to each individual user while also allowing for a wider range of motion. This new system has shown a ‘great potential of being an economic and advanced human-machine interface for supporting the manipulation in both real and virtual worlds.’ (Zhu, M., Sun, Z., Chen, T. et al (2021)) 

Another advantage to the implementation of exoskeletons for workers is also its ability to monitor muscle activity of workers, which allows for workers to know when they are overexerting themselves in manual labour jobs. According to Rahman, M. (2021), many workers are affected due to them not being able to identify when a certain position or load affects them and may oftentimes result in lifelong injuries that may eventually reduce their value as labour workers and hence reduces the pool of workers. He also mentions that recently, exoskeletons, through monitoring systems, have reduced worker fatigue and tiredness, allowing them to work for longer periods of time under safer conditions. This has allowed muscle activity to be reduced by up to 60% and has increased the effective working term of workers. (Rahman (2021)) 

Furthermore, exoskeletons have the potential to be used in rehabilitation of stroke patients in situations where immediate rehabilitation training is not readily available. According to Yurkewich, A., Kozak, J., Hebert, D., Wang, H. and Mihailidis, A. (2019), Glove like extension exoskeletons is being designed to allow for stroke patients, who experience a reduced grip force and range of motion in their hands, to carry out daily tasks which would in other patients impossible to do. Based on the study carried out by Yurkewich et al, there has been a general increase in the range of motion and grip strength in most patients that trials have been carried out on. This speaks greatly to the possible effectiveness of exoskeleton gloves in the future. 

However, one limitation of exoskeletons of today is the cost it takes to produce and customize available exoskeletons in the market today. Despite technological advances and new methods of production, cost remains relatively high for exoskeletons as it requires highly technical and specific production methods that are highly customised. According to Harmon, F. and Brăileanu, P. (2022),  The cost of exoskeletons in today’s market cost between ‘69,000 to 85,000 USD’, with even the lowest still costing around 40,000 USD. This has resulted in low implementation of exoskeletons in situations which would benefit the most from it’s implementations. I feel that despite the high cost currently associated with owning and operating a supersuit, corporations that do adopt supersuits stand to gain tremendous value in choosing to use them. 

While the idea of mass adoption is one to keep for the future, I feel that with higher pick-up rates and demand for them, more research and funding will eventually find its way into the development of them. One way that I can imagine allowing companies who would like to wait for future developments yet are willing to spend now would be the adaptation of a modular system which might allow for older parts to be substituted onto existing exoskeletons. 

As such, even though exoskeletons in general still require more research and wider understanding for better implementation, there are many benefits that cannot be discounted from its application in many aspects of life. Exoskeletons serve to better allow humans to fully extend the usefulness of the human body in a plethora of applications. 

References: 

Harmon FA., Brăileanu PI. (2022) Rapid Prototyping of a Lower-Body Exoskeleton for Paraplegia Patients. In: Cioboată D.D. (eds) International Conference on Reliable Systems Engineering (ICoRSE) - 2021. ICoRSE 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 305. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83368-8_11

N. Sun, G. Li and L. Cheng, "Design and Validation of a Self-Aligning Index Finger Exoskeleton for Post-Stroke Rehabilitation," in IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, vol. 29, pp. 1513-1523, 2021, doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2021.3097888.

Rahman, M. A. (2021). A comparative study to explore the advantages of passive exoskeletons by monitoring the muscle activity of workers (Dissertation). Retrieved from http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-35150

Yurkewich, A., Kozak, I.J., Hebert, D. et al. Hand Extension Robot Orthosis (HERO) Grip Glove: enabling independence amongst persons with severe hand impairments after stroke. J NeuroEngineering Rehabil 17, 33 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-020-00659-5

Zelik, K. (2019, April 21). “Where’s My Supersuit”. Conversation.com https://theconversation.com/its-2019-wheres-my-supersuit-115679

Zhu, M., Sun, Z., Chen, T. et al. Low cost exoskeleton manipulator using bidirectional triboelectric sensors enhanced multiple degree of freedom sensory system. Nat Commun 12, 2692 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23020-3