VOLUME 10, ISSUE 31 | SEPTEMBER 30, 2014 ryortho.com | 1-888-749-2153 Harvard Developing Pants With “Mus- cles” That Walk! “Put on your smart- est suit,” means something different in this day and age. And according to the federal government, it is worth invest- ing in. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is entrusting $2.9 million so that the geniuses at The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University can create a biologically inspired “smart suit.” Conor Walsh, Ph.D. is the found- er of the Harvard Biodesign Lab and assistant professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard. He tells OTW, “Many of us engineers have worked on some form of rigid exoskeleton, some of which can enable paralyzed people to walk. Our new approach was to ask, ‘What if people who have some mobility could move around better?’ A traditional exo- skeleton may not be suitable for these situations because they are relatively slow, heavy, and they can interfere with a person’s natural motion.” “Our first proof of concept was a pair of pants with embedded webbing to which we attached artificial muscles. And while we showed that one could apply large enough forces to have a positive impact on mobility, the device wasn’t portable. We then set to work on trying to make the device battery powered and, light- er. The key innova- tion was related to making the actual textile lighter; then we embedded actua- tors in the textile and generated forces that were in parallel with the underlying mus- cles. We applied the low-power micropro- cessors to the ankle and hip and they rep- licated the actions of the muscles. Then we used a variety of sen- sors to send signals to a microprocessor to detect how the wearer is moving (walking, crouched, etc.) so the user could apply the right amount of assis- tance.” “The Soft Exosuit is easily pulled on like a pair of pants and is meant to be worn under one’s daily clothing. For those in the military, it means that they can walk longer distances without getting as fatigued. Wearing the Exosuit would also help reduce the risk of injury when carrying the typical heavy loads that soldiers have to contend with.” “This is a platform technology for a wide variety of people who suffer from immo- Harvard Developing Pants With “Muscles” That Walk! // One Hip Surgery Saves $160,000 in Future Medical Costs! // Don’t Know Your Patient’s Global Sagittal Angle? You Should BY ELIZABETH HOFHEINZ, M.P.H., M.ED. Soft Exosuit / Source: Harvard Biodesign Lab