Exoskeleton for runners

2023: Product Announcement

In late September 2023, South Korean researchers at Jungang University in Seoul reported the development of an exoskeleton that helps people run faster. It is assumed that in the future, professional athletes will be able to use the product during training. In addition, the device can help in the rehabilitation of patients who have suffered certain injuries.

The exoskeleton consists of a power-driven backpack controlling special cables attached to the runner's thighs. The sensors on the legs collect movement data, and the microcontroller outputs control signals based on this information. As a result, the length of the cables increases or decreases, which helps athletes throw their back foot forward faster than usual. As a result, the running speed increases.

To test the effectiveness of the system, the development team selected nine amateur runners who ran the 200-meter distance twice with and without an exoskeleton. It turned out that the novelty allows you to reduce the time to overcome the specified distance by an average of 0.97 seconds. Statistical analysis shows that this improvement is not random. However, lead author Giuk Lee admits that the participants in the experiment could have run with the exoskeleton faster, since they expected it to help do this - by analogy with the placebo effect.

While none of the nine study participants reported negative feelings after wearing the exoskeleton, outside experts warn that problems can manifest themselves when the device is worn for a long time. Accelerated running with artificial support, in particular, can adversely affect joint stiffness and lead to damage to the knees, hips and ankles of athletes.^[1]

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