Tech will get nearer to superhero armour – Gadget

Wearable robots are edging nearer to the form of sensible physique armour seen in superhero movies, such because the powered go well with worn by Iron Man. Researchers have developed an automatic weaving system that may repeatedly produce skinny material muscle for versatile, clothing-type robots.

The materials, sturdy sufficient to raise as much as 15kg whereas weighing 10g, marks a major step towards wearable robotic fits that may help with motion, rehabilitation, and industrial work.

The system makes use of form reminiscence alloy (SMA) wire with a diameter of 25μm, about one-fourth the thickness of a human hair, processed into coil-shaped yarn. This goals to allow the continual mass manufacturing of light-weight but highly effective synthetic muscle actuators.

The expertise was developed by a group on the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) Advanced Robotics Research Center, beneath the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST), led by Principal Researcher Cheol Hoon Park.

The material is designed as an excellent core actuator for clothing-type wearable robots. The SMA coil yarn beforehand developed by KIMM used a metallic core wire, which resulted in low elongation and made automated weaving troublesome. To overcome this limitation, the KIMM analysis group changed the metallic core with pure fibre, redesigned the construction and fabrication strategy of the material muscle, and improved the weaving machine’s design, thereby reaching steady and steady mass manufacturing.

Conventional wearable robots designed to help a number of joints, such because the elbow, shoulder, and waist, relied on heavy, noisy motor or pneumatic actuators. This made them cumbersome, costly, and uncomfortable for long-term use. As a end result, most may present solely restricted help to particular joints.

Active help for the shoulder has been significantly difficult because of its advanced vary of movement. In distinction, KIMM’s material muscle actuators are light-weight and versatile, permitting them to naturally conform to and actively help a number of advanced joints concurrently.

Using this expertise, the analysis group developed the clothing-type wearable robotic, weighing lower than 2kg, that concurrently assists the elbow, shoulder and waist. The group says the expertise can cut back muscle effort by greater than 40% throughout repetitive bodily duties.

The group created a shoulder-assist robotic that weighs 840g. It is designed to assist sufferers with muscle weak point to put on in every day life. According to scientific trials carried out at Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) on sufferers with muscular weak point, together with these with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the wearable shoulder-assist robotic improved shoulder motion vary by greater than 57%.

With the power to repeatedly produce high-quality, uniform material muscle by way of the automated weaving system, the analysis group says it has laid the muse for the commercialisation of clothing-type wearable robots.

This is predicted to cut back staff’ bodily pressure, enhance sufferers’ high quality of life, and speed up the widespread adoption of wearable robots, thereby enhancing industrial competitiveness. In specific, the shoulder-assist robotic, designed to help rehabilitation and every day actions of sufferers with muscle weak point, is predicted to cut back caregiver burden whereas enhancing affected person independence, high quality of life, and vanity, and general well-being.

“Our development of continuous mass-production technology for fabric muscle – the key component of clothing-type wearable robots – will significantly improve quality of life in fields such as healthcare, logistics, and construction,” says Dr Cheol Hoon Park, principal researcher on the KIMM Advanced Robotics Research Center.

“We will continue to build on KIMM’s extensive wearable robotics technologies to accelerate commercialisation and lead the global wearable robotics market.”

The analysis, which gained the KIMM the Best Research Award 2024, was supported by KIMM’s ACE program, the Core Robot Technology Development Program of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, and the Seoul National University Hospital Lee Kun-hee Child Cancer and Rare Disease Project. The findings have been printed on-line within the October 2025 problem of TNSRE (IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering), a global journal within the discipline of rehabilitation engineering.

* Read the total findings here.