Robotic shorts could help people walk farther. Yes, robotic shorts

The robotic shorts are designed to improve mobility and independence in older adults and those with chronic illnesses. Photo / Uwe Anspach

The shorts are designed to be worn over everyday clothes.

Scientists have developed robotic pants that help people expend less energy while walking, according to an analysis in Nature Machine Intelligence.

The “soft robotic shorts” could improve mobility and independence in older adults and frail people, its developers write.

Known as WalkOn, the shorts were designed to be worn over everyday clothes. A pouch-like harness goes around the waist and connects to artificial Kevlar “tendons” attached to the legs.

As the wearer walks, the shorts analyse the user’s movement pattern and take some of the load from their hips, adapting to their pace and kicking in just as the hip joint swings. The garment helps the wearer with hip flexion, an activity that researchers say demands “considerable power,” especially on uneven terrain or stairs.

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The effects are comparable to removing up to 10kg from a wearer’s weight, the researchers write.

They studied the effectiveness of WalkOn for both healthy younger adults and older adults, measuring users’ walking energy as they walked on an uphill trail and a flat athletic track. The system reduced the metabolic cost required to walk outside, the researchers found, and the majority of users said they felt they had control over their movements while the shorts assisted them.

Younger adults walking uphill saved 17.79% of their metabolic energy with the shorts, and older adults saved 10.48% of their energy with the shorts during level-ground walking.

The assistive device could help people take longer walks and build endurance, the researchers conclude, especially benefitting adults weakened by advancing age or chronic illnesses.

“Walking helps them to improve their metabolism, which in turn may have a positive effect on their illness,” Lorenzo Masia, a professor of intelligent bio-robotic systems at the Technical University of Munich and the paper’s senior author, said in a news release.