New 'Exoskeletons' Give Shipbuilders Super Strength

If a South Korean shipbuilding company has its way, its workers could soon be wearing exoskeletons that would allow them to easily carry items as heavy as 200 pounds like they were bits of styrofoam.

Daewoo Ship Building and Marine Engineering has been testing such suits at their Okpo-dong facility in the hopes that they will soon be able to put them into full production and have an entire fleet of super strong shipbuilders. 

According to a report by New Scientist, these suits will fit anyone between the height of 5 to 6 feet, and the suits' wearers don't even feel its 60 pound frame while they use it. This is because the suit is made of alloys of aluminum and steel as well as carbon, and also because the suit supports its own weight.

The exoskeletons have a reported 3-hour battery life, allow wearers to talk at their normal pace and can lift objects up to 30 kilograms--and that's just the prototype. 

The suits mirror human anatomy to some degree. In order to put one on, workers simply have to strap their feet to the foot harnesses, which rest like feet on the ground, then also fasten harnesses around the thigh, waist and chest. The suits hydraulic motors and joints run through almost the entirety of the frame's exterior, giving power to the entire unit. 

Daewoo's chief engineer for its R&D division, Gilwhoan Chu, reports that initial testing has gone well, citing overwhelmingly positive feedback from the trial users. The suit testers were able to "lift heavy objects repeatedly without strain," reports New Scientist. Next up is making the suits faster, which Chu claims his team is already working on.

"Our current research target of the lifting capacity is about 100 kilograms (or about 220 pounds)," states Chu. 

Other issues that will have to be worked out before the suits can go into final production include better operation on slippery or inclined surfaces, and "twisting motions," which are currently a challenge for users. 

But Chu and his team seem committed to making this work, and quickly: ""We've been developing and applying robots and automation in shipbuilding for more than a decade," he stated. And if all goes according to his plan, soon humans could be replacing robots in some parts of the Daewoo assembly lines. Imagine that.