RE2, Inc. announced today that the company has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program with the U.S. Army to develop the Biomechanical Exoskeleton Simulator System, a software tool to assess the impact of load carriage and body-wearable robotic devices on musculoskeletal health and performance. RE2 is partnering with biomechanical exoskeleton experts at Ekso Bionics™ (OTCBB: EKSO) and neuromusculoskeletal simulation leader, Dr. Scott Delp, faculty at Stanford University.
Military personnel often carry heavy loads in harsh environments for missions or field training operations that last for extended periods of time. Carrying heavy loads decreases physical performance and increases the likelihood of musculoskeletal injuries.
The goal of this SBIR program is to develop a simulation system that can accurately model the injury risk, metabolic loading, and the forces and the torques on the human musculoskeletal system for soldiers carrying loads with assistance from exoskeletons. “By directly modeling the interaction between the operator and the exoskeleton while identifying potential injury mechanisms and issues before large-scale deployment of the device, the simulation system will reduce risk and enable improved design of new assistive technologies,” stated Dr. Andrew B. Mor, principal scientist for RE2.
“The development of an exoskeleton simulator further advances our capabilities in the field of assistive robotics,” stated Jorgen Pedersen, president and CEO of RE2. “Ultimately, this technology will mitigate the need for costly and time consuming experimentation with human test volunteers and reduce time to market for emerging robotic assistive devices.”
This work is supported by the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command under Contract No. W81XWH-14-C-0002. The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy or decision unless so designated by other documentation.
