LG is also incredibly close to commercially releasing its SuitBot, another support exoskeleton helping factory workers lift heavier loads, for longer periods of time. Last year Ford moved to implement an upper-body support exoskeleton in all its factories after a successful trial. We are already seeing smaller iterations of this exoskeleton technology rolling out in factories around the world. In an interview with IEEE Spectrum, Ben Wolff suggests the entire Guardian XO Max package, including installation, maintenance and oversight, "is roughly the equivalent to a fully loaded, all costs included, $25 per hour employee." It is implied that the exoskeleton will notably enhance a worker's productivity making this an enticingly cost-effective proposition for construction and manufacturing companies. It's unclear exactly how much these exoskeleton units will cost, but initially they will not be sold individually, rather delivered using a fee-based Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) model.
This unit that can operate for up to eight hours on a single battery charge and is also designed to have its batteries easily "hot swapped," meaning empty batteries can be replaced with new ones while the unit is still operational in the field. For the exoskeleton to be commercially viable and practical, it needed to operate for a substantial amount of time on battery power, untethered from any power cables.Īfter years of work Sarcos has now produced what appears to be a practical untethered system in the form of the Guardian XO Max. One of the bigger engineering challenges Sarcos faced in creating a functional industrial exoskeleton was developing a way to efficiently power the system off a small battery unit. Sarcos Robotics is speeding us towards that promising future, now taking pre-orders for the Guardian XO Max – the world's first battery-powered, full-body industrial exoskeleton – with delivery slated for early 2020. Imagine a future construction site where a worker can swiftly pick up and move hundreds of pounds of materials thanks to hi-tech exoskeleton suits.
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