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Episode 28: Not a Sales Pitch – An Exoskeleton Engineer Puts Consumer Exos to the Test
Dr. Sugar traveled to the Bay Area for two days of hands-on time with Dnsys and Hypershell powered hip consumer exoskeletons. You can listen to the podcast on all major streaming platforms like Spotify and ApplePodcast or watch it on YouTube as a video. A summarized transcript is posted on ExR.
Two new Kickstarter.com projects!!
– Vastnaut One: World’s First AI-Powered 4×4 Exoskeleton, 26 days to go – Kickstarter.com
– sselbpues: Consumerizing Human Augmentation, 37 days left in the campaign – Kickstarter.com
First real-world deployment of the HyperGo Fund:
Aurélien Fontenoy, a world-class MTB trials champion, is taking on one of the most iconic routes in the world – Route 66. Nearly 4,000 km, from Chicago to Santa Monica, this journey is not just about distance. – learn more on Hypershell.tech
WIRobotics Secures ₩95B ($70M+) Series B Funding!
The Series B round was led by JB Investment with 9 leading investors. The company has also expanded from consumer wearable robots to include, ALLEX, a humanoid robot built upon the foundation of human movement data accumulated through wearables. – see the original LinkedIn post
Ski~Mojo celebrates 10 years of progress
ExR’s Perspective: Wishing the company and its team countless more reasons to celebrate! (image source –> LinkedIn)
Hypershell will launch its new Hypershell X Series on May 20, 2026, featuring HyperIntuition™
HyperIntuition is a system designed to predict a wearer’s motion intent in real time and sync assistance with each step. Hypershell reports a 0.31-second response time, based on controlled lab testing, with the goal of making the exoskeleton feel more natural across walking, hiking, and changing terrain. – Hypershell.Tech
ViveLab Exo: Bringing Data-Driven Evaluation to Industrial Exoskeletons
Cyberdyne reported that revenue declined 12.3% year over year for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, to ¥3.85 billion, with the company noting the decrease was partly due to the prior-year sale of LeyLine GmbH, its German subsidiary. The company’s full earnings announcement is available on Cyberdyne’s website here: FY2026 financial results announcement
ExoAtlet Parent Cosmo Robotics Completes IPO and Begins Trading on KOSDAQ – ExR
Newndra celebrates attending Defense North Tech Symposium 2026 and positions itself as “India’s leading defence exoskeleton company, with 1000+ exoskeletons delivered to Indian forces and 1500+ systems in active pipeline deployment…” – LinkedIn
ExR’s Perspective: These are surprisingly large numbers, but with the dismounted infantry, which was already overburdened, is now expected to carry drones and drone jammers as well, further increasing the need to alleviate personnel’s physical burden.
New exoskeleton tech aids Seattle Mountain Rescue teams – KING 5 Seattle
ExR’s Perspective: the report compares hip powered exoskeletons to an electric mountain bike –> a power tool to help cover more ground by trained emergency crews.
User preference-based human-in-the-loop tuning of exoskeleton assistance during walking
ExR’s Perspective: A new open-access study on hip exoskeleton control suggests that practical personalization should be human-guided, not fully manual or fully autonomous. In a small treadmill study, 11 inexperienced users self-tuned four timing parameters with a thumbstick and found preferred assistance in about 11 minutes; those settings reduced metabolic cost by about 16.6% versus zero-torque walking, and small timing deviations did not erase the benefit. The practical takeaway is not simply “current AI control is already right,” nor “let users manually override everything”; rather, it supports a hybrid calibration model: use user preference as a fast, low-burden signal to narrow the search space, then let an algorithm or sensor-based optimizer refine and guide exploration systematically. – the study is published in Nature
Hyundai Motor Group’s X-ble Shoulder Becomes First Wearable Robot in Korea to Receive KS Certification
- X-ble Shoulder is the first wearable robot to be KS-certified by the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement (KIRIA)
- Certification marks the first time a wearable robot’s quality has been nationally recognized, setting a new industry standard
- This follows the ‘ISO 13482’ certification for safety from DNV (Det Norske Veritas), the European Union’s integrated certification body based in Norway and European Union’s ‘Machinery Directive’ certification, confirming its mechanical safety for industrial use in Europe.
Read the full press release by Hyundai (March 2026)
The Future of Exos: Integrating PPE, Physical AI, & Self-Powered Smart Materials – Lowcountry Revolutionaries
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