Affordable exoskeletons goal of university-company consortium
Scientists from the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and KU Leuven have teamed up with 20 Flemish companies to create the first affordable workplace exoskeleton
Step by step
At last month’s cycling race in Antwerp province, among the young women who typically congratulate the winners on the podium with a kiss and a bouquet of flowers was the first-timer Jolien Van Loy, who is paralysed from waist down.
The 28-year-old took the stage wearing a robotic machine that helps her walk. The exoskeleton was provided by the To Walk Again foundation, founded by the Flemish triathlete Marc Herremans, who’s also paralysed. The foundation has three exoskeletons at its disposal, which it uses in therapy and for special occasions.
While exoskeletons can help people suffering from paralysis and muscle weakness, among other conditions, there is an obstacle in the way of their widespread use. At €160,000, they’re too expensive for most people who need to buy them, including Van Loy. She has access to one from To Walk Again – for one hour a week.
According to professor Bram Vanderborght of the Robotics and Multibody Mechanics research group (BruBotics) at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), the cost of exoskeletons make it much more likely that they will first find widespread use in industrial applications.
Cry for help
With 20 Flemish companies and the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), BruBotics has submitted two project proposals that look into the use and economic potential of exoskeletons on the work floor. If approved for funding by the regional and national research institutes, the group will be led by VUB professor Dirk Lefeber, an expert in robot assistants and rehabilitation robotics.
“The industry is calling for help,” Vanderborght explains. “We’re talking about a wide range of companies – from the postal sector, car manufacturers and construction firms to supermarkets and hospitals. Some send us pictures of large and heavy objects in their warehouses, with the simple question: Can you design something that could help us move this around?”
Both projects are meant to answer the questions posed by the industry. “In the first proposal, we are setting out to design an exoskeleton for use on the work floor,” Vanderborght says. “It’s a very difficult process that can easily take four years of work before we have the first prototype.”
Some companies send us pictures of large and heavy objects in their warehouses, with the simple question: Can you design something that could help us move this around?
The second project, he continues, answers to the more pressing need. “We will purchase several existing models and test them to see if they live up to their abilities as advertised.”
The projects aim to move things forward for exoskeletons, on both economic and practical levels. According to a study by human resources consultancy Securex, lower back pain – caused mostly by lifting objects – is second only to the common cold as a cause of sick leave.
The same study shows that an absent employee can cost the employer more than €1,000 a day, or €270,000 a year. “In that context,” says Vanderborght, “purchasing a machine that costs, say, €23,000 that can prevent absence due to muscle or back pain makes perfect sense.”
Until that happens, however, researchers have to first develop a prototype that can be marketed on a wider scale and at an affordable price. “No scientific team in the world has managed to create a spin-off where exoskeletons roll off the assembly line, causing prices to drop to what you’d pay for a car,” Vanderborght says. “That’s what we intend to do.”
Photo courtesy Ekso Bionics
