Summary Reader Response- Final

 The article “Where’s My Supersuit?” Zelik (2019) writes about recent developments that have been made in the world of wearable exoskeletons, or “supersuits”. Early exoskeletons had 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. From my point of view, current exoskeletons are limited in terms of their practicality and comfort. With future developments in exoskeletons to allow for a wider range of applications, trackers to monitor muscle activity for labour workers and developmental parts for stroke patients, they will further enhance the lives of many. 

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 et al. (2021), the use of new sensors being implemented into newer exoskeletons has 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 et al. 2021).

Another advantage to the implementation of exoskeletons for workers is also its ability to monitor muscle activity of workers, which allows them to know when they are overexerting themselves in manual labour jobs. According to Rahman (2021), many workers are affected due to them not being able to identify when a certain position or load affects them. This may result in lifelong injuries that eventually reduce their value as labour workers, and hence, it may reduce the pool of workers. He also mentions that recently, the use of 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 these workers (Rahman 2021). Situations like this speaks for the effectiveness of exoskeletons and how they stand to serve both workers and corporations.

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. Et al. (2019), glove-like extensions to exoskeletons are 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. 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 its 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 of supersuits is one to keep for the future, I feel that with higher pick-up rates and demand, more research and funding will eventually find its way into their development as more people will see their benefits. One way that I can imagine would entice a higher pick-up rate would be allowing companies who would like to wait for future developments yet are willing to spend now to implement exoskeletons would be the adaptation of a modular system, which might allow for newer parts to be substituted onto existing exoskeletons. This will allow companies to experience first hand the advantages of implementing exoskeletons in the workplace, while at the same time prevent them from using technology that are being phased out with further development.

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. With further developments of the exoskeleton and the use of trackers for muscle activity and developmental parts for medical uses, Exoskeletons serve to better allow humans to fully extend the usefulness of the human body in a plethora of applications.

References

Harmon, F.-A., & Brăileanu, P.-I. (2021). Rapid Prototyping of a Lower-Body Exoskeleton for Paraplegia Patients. International Conference on Reliable Systems Engineering (ICoRSE) - 2021, 107–118. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83368-8_11

Rahman, M. A. (2021). A Comparative Study to Explore the Advantages of Passive Exoskeletons by Monitoring the Muscle Activity of Workers. hig.diva-portal.org. http://hig.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1524075&dswid=7964 

Sun, N., Li, G., & Cheng, L. (2021). Design and Validation of a Self-Aligning Index Finger Exoskeleton for Post-Stroke Rehabilitation. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 29, 1513–1523. https://doi.org/10.1109/tnsre.2021.3097888

Yurkewich, A., Kozak, I. J., Hebert, D., Wang, R. H., & Mihailidis, A. (2020). Hand Extension Robot Orthosis (HERO) Grip Glove: enabling independence amongst persons with severe hand impairments after stroke. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-020-00659-5

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

Zhu, M., Sun, Z., Chen, T., & Lee, C. (2021). Low cost exoskeleton manipulator using bidirectional triboelectric sensors enhanced multiple degree of freedom sensory system. Nature Communications, 12(1), 2692. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23020-3