A recent announcement from NASA revealed that the production of exoskeletons are not far away to produce. In order to develop this technology NASA coorperated with “Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC)” and “Oceaneering Space Systems”, to develop exoskeleton X1. This device is worn onto body from the shoulders to the legs and it covers the full leg, at the same time not preventing any movements.

X1 is a device which is originally developed for astronauts to be helpful in space research. It has four degrees of freedom at the hips and the knees, and six more which allow for sidestepping, turning and pointing.  On the other hand, X1 is a door of hope for disabled people as well. Thanks to multiple arrangement points of X1, it seems that it can be used in many different ways.

Among the uses of X1, we can mention the usage by astronauts, during prolonged periods of expousre to non gravity environments, combining X1 with a spacesuit in order to provide additional force, walking assisting device including climbing stairs.

Source:

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112712011/nasa-robotic-exoskeleton-x1-101212/

  robonout 2, robotic exoskeletons, robotic leg, x1