Each week, we keep hearing about AI, wars, strife, and so on… In this day and age, news organizations just don’t have the incentive to cover this still-developing field. This newsletter is meant to act as a temporary stopgap to capture and document announcements, select papers, user stories, calls for action, events, and jobs that are relevant to the field:

Visual Archive:

Text Archive:

£1599 Exoskeleton vs Impossible Golf Course…

Full 18 holes at St Deiniol Golf Club – Not a Perfect Golfer – YouTube

ExR’s Perspective: There are golf courses out there that require a significant amount of walking (15k+ steps) even with a golf cart rented out. As people age that amount of walking can become a challenge, but could wearable mobility tools allow people to enjoy their outdoor hobbies for longer? While it may seem like a first-world-problem, this could simply be a use case that generates additional ideas, discussions and applications.

Verve Motion Partners with HexArmor / uvex and IAG to Define the of Worker Protection

International Airlines Group, through IAGi Ventures, has invested in Harvard spinout Verve Motion as part of a financing round that brings Verve’s total funding since 2020 to more than $55 million. This is an investment and operational-testing partnership – not yet a group-wide deployment: IAG will help develop and trial a new aviation-specific wearable initially aimed at supporting baggage handlers’ shoulders during repetitive lifting in ground and cargo operations, while HexArmor/uvex will help commercialize and distribute Verve’s existing SafeLift technology. – IAG.com (ExR’s Perspective: testing likely to start with British Airways, but “shoulder” may be a typo in the press release rather than a hint to a brand new shoulder-support exo)

Is a $7,000 Exosuit for Tradies Worth It?

A review that actually gets an occupational exoskeleton a little dusty and dirty. – price, perception, finding the right application… Dave Does Carpentry – YouTube

Evaluation of Muscle Activity and Usability of an Upper-Limb Exoskeleton in Power Grid Maintenance Tasks

A study from University of Peking confirms what we already know, a passive shoulder-support exoskeleton tested on 22 healthy individuals performed well in static overhead tasks with cycle times of 5 min, and not so well for dynamic tasks. – MDPI

The effects of hybrid assistive limb (HAL) application on locomotor function and balance parameters in individuals with multiple sclerosis

In a small study of 13 adults with multiple sclerosis, eight weeks of intensive gait training with the Hybrid Assistive Limb robotic exoskeleton was associated with faster walking, greater endurance, improved balance and step length, and lower disability scores; however, the study had no control group… Science Direct

Mechanomicon: Guide to mecha design

Now on Amazon.com and in English, this book begins with an analysis of the design of some mecha from various media and finally reaches the topic of real-life exoskeletons, citing numerous exoskeletons for both civilian and military use. Parallels between reality and science fiction are presented, such as those between the MAK and the HULC. There’s also an interesting interview with Comau/Iuvo engineers about their Exos Mate… – author Alberto Sangiovanni, now available on Amazon.

Donning & Doffing Exos: The Critical Design Challenge That Determines Real-World Success

In this episode of Beyond The Skin, Dr. William “Bill” Billotte and Dr. Matthew “Matt” Dickinson dive deep into one of the most overlooked yet make-or-break aspects of exoskeleton design: donning and doffing. – YouTube

Plus job, events, Patreon in the visual archive.