Attaining superhero strength in real life Salt Lake City—Need to change a tire on a giant military vehicle? Hoist a 200-pound missile into a plane? Snap on an exoskeleton and you’ll get the job done without even breaking a sweat.
A high-tech mechanical suit worthy of Marvel Comics’ Iron Man, the exoskeleton is taking shape in the research facilities of Raytheon Sarcos in Salt Lake City. Combining cutting-edge microelectronics and robotics, it consists of upper and lower extremities that can easily be stepped into, secured, and operated with only minimal training. The exoskeleton has hydraulically powered joints that fluidly mimic human movements and sensors that detect and automatically adjust to the wearer’s motions. For example, if the user wants to lift something, the device senses the upward movement of the arms and dramatically boosts their lifting capacity.
The technology is the brainchild of Stephen Jacobsen, a mechanical engineer at the ...
