Engineers Test a Powered 'Ankle Exoskeleton' To Make Running Easier (engadget.com) 43
Engineers from Stanford University developed a motorized exoskeleton rig that attaches around the ankle and foot and found that it made running 15 percent easier. "They explained that when the exoskeleton's motor is switched on, it reduces the energy cost of running and allows the user to run longer than they're usually capable of," reports Engadget. "The device can also boost a runner's speed by as much as 10 percent." From the report: Here's how the exoskeleton works: Its motors tug a cable running through the back of the rig from the heel to the calf. That pulls the foot upward during the toe-off, extending the ankle at the end of every step. Team member and Stanford grad student Delaney Miller said: "Powered assistance took off a lot of the energy burden of the calf muscles. It was very springy and very bouncy compared to normal running. Speaking from experience, that feels really good. When the device is providing that assistance, you feel like you could run forever."
Just call me Chell (Score:4, Funny)
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You know what's offputting about that game? The low jumps. Most games allow you to jump unrealistically high, but I can jump higher IRL than Chell can in Portal. I don't know why, but I find that really disconcerting.
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The useless jump in Portal is inherited from the game's direct predecessor, Narbacular Drop, in which the protagonist's inability to jump was a central stylistic and gameplay focus.
awesome (Score:3)
I hope this stuff trickles down before I need it to walk at all
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It is surprisingly low-tech, you could probably find a tinkerer to copy it even now.
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But that's not the point (Score:2)
made running 15 percent easier
Running is supposed to expend energy. Otherwise, I have a device that can save me even more than 15% energy. And improve my speed far more than 10%. It wraps completely around my body. It's called a Porsche.
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Dirt bike.
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Re:But that's not the point (Score:4, Funny)
Officer, this man right here. He burned OP to the ground, I saw it with my own eyes.
Re: But that's not the point (Score:2)
a bicycle is sufficient (Score:3)
If you like to increase your speed 5+ times compared to walking, and use 2-3 times less energy per km, a bicycle is sufficient. The wheel (especially large wheels and light weight construction like on a bicycle) is a really energy-saving device as long as you have somewhat smooth ground.
Actually, for locomotion energy use, a human on a bicycle seems to be the most energy-efficient mammal. Only some birds may be able to beat it by using favourable winds and thermals.
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I have tried running for exercise, however, the forces on my ankle and knees did more harm than good. I enjoyed it while I could, however, I don't have a Runner body. I am short and stocky, I work better given a 50 lbs back Pack and told to hike up a mountain. But running and jogging tires my out very quickly and my joints are in a lot of pain. I have tried for about a year 5-6 times a week running 4-6 miles a day but it never gotten better.
Tools like this may help.
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It appears that this device just relieves the work done by calf muscles. Impact loads are still transmitted through your joins. And by using your own foot and joints to push off, it might even place more load on your ankles.
Something akin to a carbon fiber 'blade' that amputees use to run might be better at absorbing the impact of landing on your feet.
Talk about missing the point... (Score:2)
... of running. You are supposed to expend energy, a-holes.
What's next? An AI to wipe your ass after you take a dump? What is it with these fucking dweebs? Do they want just be brains in a vat?
Re:Talk about missing the point... (Score:4, Funny)
] Foot soldiers
] Law enforcement
] Running from law enforcement
] 1st responders out in the country
] Door to door mailman
] Get me lunch intern, and use the exofeet!
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You missed it as well, use cases: ] Foot soldiers ] Law enforcement ] Running from law enforcement ] 1st responders out in the country ] Door to door mailman ] Get me lunch intern, and use the exofeet!
Fun
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At this point law enforcement could increase their running efficiency by just eating less.
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This reminds me of a time my grandpa gave my brother and me a hard time because we went to gym to run and lift weights for no reason. He said if we were bored we should just go out the barn and stack hay bales. He wasn't even kidding. The thought of wasting energy working hard for no practical reason was so foreign to him, and the thought of getting exercise for any reason other than health and keeping in shape was equally foreign to us.
I know others have said it, but some people actually have to run for a
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What's next? An AI to wipe your ass after you take a dump?
There is this place. It is called Japan. No, it is not a myth, it is a real place. No really, I swear!!!
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Let's assume for a moment that there are people who actually do some running for other reason than not becoming a fat ass because they generally have the lifestyle of a sloth. Ya know, people who actually "do stuff". Going somewhere because they deliver your food. Or fighting a battle to keep you from having to do it yourself.
Not everyone runs because it's fun or because they don't want to become a blob. Some actually do it because they have to.
Step 1 (Score:2)
Cool, first step towards my Iron Man suit.
Now I just have to figure out repulsors and inertial dampeners.
Didn't we already know this? (Score:2)
Not to sound cynical, but so what? Sure, they did it, tested, it made some nice graphs on energy expenditure, but they knew the answers in advance, and the device is not really a usable item, just a laboratory showpiece.
Propelling yourself by walking uses energy. Unlike many other means of locomotion that nature and man have engineered, Newton's first law is not so relevant to gait on our gravity bound surface. Every step creates force by muscle pushoff, thus acceleration and motion, but then the kinetic
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The theoretical promise of this is to allow the human to run far and free with minimum encumbrance, but unless they can make a "zero-point-module"
I think what you're missing, is that there could be a middle ground, that helps older or less mobile people to keep running/walking.
You see this phenomenon with electric bikes here in The Netherlands. They are incredibly popular, to my great surprise. It seems that although they're very expensive, they let people cycle further (or longer into old age). And the batteries are not inexhaustive, but light enough to make it worthwhile for cycling anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes (round trip).
If you'd build the
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I think what you're missing, is that there could be a middle ground, that helps older or less mobile people to keep running/walking. You see this phenomenon with electric bikes here in The Netherlands. They are incredibly popular, to my great surprise.
At least here in Norway my experience is that they're mostly commuter's bikes. It's not that they couldn't ride a manual bike for a workout, but they're riding it 10x/week for transport and with maximum assistance and taking it chill you don't have to break a sweat. Using a car can cost a lot in parking and toll roads even for relatively short distances and unlike public transport it's on-demand, point-to-point and nearly immune to traffic jams. At my last place of work I could reliably get to work in 18-20
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It's research, not intended to be an entire final solution. Obviously motors and fuel would be heavy but based on this validation of the theory they or others can proceed toward developing similar solutions for other muscles, solving power storage and delivery, etc. I wouldn't want to carry around heavy batteries or jet fuel but maybe an ATP powered muscle even, who knows? The video is PR which unfortunately confuses people. My own concern which obviously they can also figure out, is that the artificial cal
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p.s. the delivery guys constantly running around my apartment building delivering Amazon etc. are all obviously athletes but maybe they could use something lightweight if they want to be able to do it into their 30s and 40s. There's a use case. Maybe a guard at a giant superstore would be another, although would be nice to give him a scooter instead.
Bipedal Not Perfected after Millions of Years (Score:2)
Running? (Score:2)
It's slightly hampered by the fact that it's stationary rig, the strings pulled by that big box behind. By the time all the motors, batteries and harnesses are mounted, some of it on the calf and foot where weight is least desired, it'll offset much of the benefit. So it should maybe repurposed for walk assist with big backpacks, where the incremental weight of batteries isn't that significant, and walking is less energy intensive anyway.
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Yeah, but they article and video are misleading in this. The video avoids showing the apparatus, and when they do they make sure it is out-of-context, either by showing just the motor, or by blocking the wires with the monitoring station. The interviewer mentions how it could help someone keep up with their friends running the Boston marathon, which is cannot possibly do. The problem isn't the work they've done, it's the misleading reporting. We see this every day with the headlines like "Breakthrough b
The person is not carrying the motor! (Score:2)
Watch the video: the motor and battery are a separate piece of equipment that the person is not carrying. So this is a long way from being a bionic exoskeleton that improves overall performance. I think what we are learning here is what kinds of motions the motors could do that are helpful, which is good research, but this is not going to be a net benefit if you have to actually carry around the apparatus.
I find it disingenuous that they don't mention this up front.
Welcom to Wall E (Score:2)
It seems this is not really for a runner, or people who want to do running. If this became the norm, what do you think will happen? Muscle deterioration because that much resistance is removed, tendons become weaker, etc. Just need the floating chairs so our fat bodies get around.
There is a number of reasons to have these type of things, and I think this technology is good. But exercise is for the body. If you don't do it, well you don't do it.
Someone Was Working on this Many Years Ago (Score:2)