The idea behind exoskeleton suits aren’t new. While they might have initially existed as a concept in comics, TV shows, and movies, these days exoskeleton suits are more or less a reality and they have been used to help paraplegics walk and also worn by the elderly to help prevent them from falling.However we suppose a more “obvious” use for such a devices would be in an industrial situation, where such suits could help give human workers more strength to perform their jobs. In fact this is something that Ford is looking into as they are testing out equipping some of their factory workers with exoskeleton suits.
Dubbed the EksoVest and developed by Ekso Bionics, this suit is capable of lifting anywhere between 5 to 15 pounds. While this might not seem like a huge amount, Ford claims that certain employees do as many as 4,600 tasks a day, so you can imagine that it all adds up, and having the suit there to help will certainly make things easier as well as reduce chances of injury.
According to UAW-Ford Vice President Jimmy Settles, “The health and safety of our membership has always been our highest priority. With the proven success at the piloted locations, we look forward to expanding this technology to our other UAW-Ford manufacturing facilities.”
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