magazine on Friday, an international team of researchers have announced a groundbreaking development in assistive clothing. The breakthrough? A pair of black biker shorts.
The robotic shorts attach to a vest and fanny pack containing microprocessors that measure movement and adjust support whether the wearer is walking or running. The visual effect is a sort of high-tech lederhosen.,"two electrical motors connected to cables via pulleys apply a tensile force between the waist belt and the thigh wraps to generate an external extension moment around the hip joint.
Wearing their suit, the researchers found, reduced the"metabolic cost" to walk by 9.3 percent. It reduced the energy spent while running by 4 percent. Researchers from Chung-Ang University in Seoul, University of Nebraska Omaha, the Wyss Institute, and Harvard's John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences comprised the 14-person team listed as authors on theRobotic shorts are just the latest in a string of marvels developed by Walsh's lab. Recent victories include tools for minimally invasive heart surgery and a robotic glove straight out of the future.