Lockheed Knee-Stress Relief Device

http://breakingdefense.com/2017/05/k-srd-exoskeleton-gives-overburdened-troops-a-leg-up-literally/

by smacktoward • 9 years ago

116 48 9 years ago

I have a friend who would basically get his life back if he could use something like this to allow him to walk normally.

I'm all for superhuman enhancements, and I know that defence leads research in many areas, but I can't help feeling a bit disappointed that my friend will likely never have access to anything like this.

maxerickson2• 9 years ago

Do you think affordability will be a blocker?

I'd expect such assistive devices to hit the medical market pretty much instantly once they are practical in terms of things like weight, cost and run time.

mkane848• 9 years ago

I wonder how many parts could be 3D printed in a civilian/mass-market version to help with price? Obviously the army doesn't want to compromise anywhere in terms of durability considering the conditions they're working in.

Someone• 9 years ago

One problem is that you have to make sure that this device tries to rotate your knee around the same axis as your knee does, probably more so when used on people who already have weaker knees.

Because of that, I expect that fitting this to a body is a lengthy and, hence, fairly costly affair.

rtkwe2• 9 years ago

Making it affordable is hard but there are already companies out there that are designing the same thing for the medical device market.

melling• 9 years ago

I didn't see any price. I give up, why won't you eventually be able to buy one? With an aging society, I'd bet someone makes a cheaper commercial one.

bsder• 9 years ago

This is coming. It's more likely to get to the medical help first, though.

A 100 lb nurse needs a bit of assist to move a 300 lb patient out of bed.

zdean• 9 years ago

I wouldn't give up on it. I remember a few years ago the stories of people 3d printing prosthetic hands for $50...where the cost had previously been $30k+. I imagine that some ingenuity and determination could do the same here.

https://3dprint.com/2438/50-prosthetic-3d-printed-hand/ https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244608

ipsin• 9 years ago

I think that's the idea behind http://www.cybathlon.ethz.ch/the-disciplines/powered-exoskel...

It's really heartening to see what's becoming possible for those with disabilities, but as other commenters say, the next challenge is making good solutions available.

j_s• 9 years ago

A vaguely similar device is in testing at Lowes.

https://newsroom.lowes.com/fresh-thinking/new-suit-empowerin...

manmeet• 9 years ago

My startup is building exoskeleton to help the disabled walk. Our aim is to make a much cheaper exoskeleton ($10k). But we are starting by building exoskeletons for children. Check out trexorobotics.com

prawn• 9 years ago

Good luck with such a meaningful problem. I can only imagine what help in this space would mean for these children and their parents.

gadders2• 9 years ago

> So if you can’t lighten the soldier’s load, and you can’t take it off him, can you make him stronger? Nowadays, the answer is yes: We have the technology.

Yeah, it's called a squat rack.

cubano3• 9 years ago

...and PEDs of course.

It's interesting to wonder if government special ops teams are encouraged or even required to follow doctor-prescribed PED cycles these days.

rjeli3• 9 years ago

Yep, testosterone dramatically increases strength, almost eliminates recovery time, reduces the need for sleep and food to maintain muscle mass... the downside, you die at 50

nradov3• 9 years ago

Yes the military is investigating performance enhancing drugs.

http://www.defensenews.com/articles/special-operations-comma...

jonwachob91• 9 years ago

PED use in the military is rampant, even in support units that'll never see the outside of the US. For no particular reason than to be "macho".

HOWEVER, some teams will go the extra mile and take Amphetamines during deployment's to help with performance during ops.

alistairSH• 9 years ago

Maybe not currently, but the administration of "Pep pills" were not uncommon during Vietnam.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/04/the-drugs...

gadders2• 9 years ago

I always wondered that. It's not like they don't work.

agentgt• 9 years ago

I'm curious what takes up the majority of the weight in terms of what a typical soldier carries?

I'm guessing after some quick math that its not the water like I originally suspected but perhaps the armor and ammo but maybe not?

gnopgnip• 9 years ago

A USMC radio operator on a ground patrol with a plan to be out for less than a day and cover 20km will have radio batteries, a radio, flak jacket, 4 extra magazine, m4, smoke grenades, helmet, sunglasses, weapon cleaning kit, extra socks, 2 days of mre, probably 2l of extra water, poncho liner, rain jacket, gloves, extra socks. Others will have heavier weapons but less radio gear and two people will have ied jammers. Night vision goggles and a peq 16 plus extra batteries and grenades will depend on what they are doing. 60lbs or more is normal for a ground patrol.

tcoff91• 9 years ago

It's really impressive to me that all that gear only weighs 60 lbs. That is so much stuff.

TylerE• 9 years ago

2l of water seems really low to me, unless that's just an emergency supply?

thesuitonym2• 9 years ago

Soldiers (And other military members) are expected to be self-contained for the entire time they're in the field, with enough food, water, clothes and other gear to cover the time they're out and then some. When you're in hostile territory, you don't want to run out of anything you'll need, so many soldiers overpack.

gaius2• 9 years ago

That was the lesson of the movie Black Hawk Down. Many of the Rangers didn't take water, body armour, night vision etc because they thought it would be a quick in-and-out job.

gaius2• 9 years ago

Average weight a British soldier carries in Afghanistan is 110lbs http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8...

As the threat facing British soldiers has changed so has the composition of body armour, which now consists of front, rear and side plates designed to protect soldiers from small arms fire and IED blasts but weighs around 40lbs. In addition to body armour, a typical soldier on patrol in Afghanistan will carry: a weapon (10 to 20lbs); radio, batteries electronic equipment (40lbs); water (10lbs); ammunition (20lbs); Javelin missile (25lbs). Soldiers will also be required to wear eye, groin, ear and knee protection as well as gloves and a helmet

walshemj• 9 years ago

I don't think all squaddies in a brick (fire team) carry a javelin from what I have seen they go on the back of the jackal or Coyote.

smacktoward• 9 years ago

I see the original headline on this piece ("Lockheed Exoskeleton Gives Troops A Leg Up, Literally") has been neutered, one more casualty in HN's ongoing War On Good Headlines. Sigh.

The original one actually sounded like something that would be interesting to read, unlike the neutered version ("Lockheed Knee-Stress Relief Device", as of this writing), which sounds like a page out of an ergonomic supply catalog.

I know how sensitive HN is to clickbait, but it does a disservice to interesting articles to hide them behind labels that sound deeply, profoundly uninteresting.

givemefive• 9 years ago

:/ I read an article once and come back the next day and it's name has changed and open it again.

matt40772• 9 years ago

Indeed–it's a strange outcrop of HN's no-fluff-worldview, in that it seems to consider all hints of creativity as detrimental to its mission.

In this case, it has surely come full circle. In an effort to avoid the original title's pun, it has replaced it with something that gives a completely wrong impression regarding the content. Indeed, as the article mentions, it "makes it sounds like a piece of molded plastic your insurance would refuse to cover".

Let's remember that "clickbait" once meant psycho-tricks like "You won't believe these 10 reasons why...". Newspapers have, since time immortal, used all sorts of literary devices in headlines. Indeed there are some publications where headlines are the only outlet for a bit of lightness. The economist, for example, is well-known for bone-dry articles in contrast to evocative headlines (and, sometimes, outright silly captions).

nitrogen• 9 years ago

I have to disagree. When I come to HN I am looking for information density. Bad puns are a negative signal in that regard. "Knee stress relief device" sounds much more promising, and makes me think of Bruce Wayne.

mrfusion• 9 years ago

How hard is it for a hoobiest to build something like this?

What's the hard part? Aligning to your leg? Powerful enough motors? Software?

maxerickson2• 9 years ago

I imagine the answer is yes.

jackmoore• 9 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMxNLCEIcbU

rtkwe2• 9 years ago

It depends on how broadly you are willing to count as having made one. Super crude examples have already been made at home and can lift things. Power consumption and size are big issues but the largest one is that without really good software the person wearing it will have to fight against the exo-'suit' so much that normal movement will take more energy. One of the big improvements touted in the article is just that, the prosthetic got better software so that it predicted how the user wanted to move better.

Lockheed Knee-Stress Relief Device

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