A U.S. Army soldier in prototype exoskeletonDARPA tested a load-shifting exoskeleton on soldiers at Maryland’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in late September. Designed by Harvard's Wyss Institute and funded by DARPA, the suit is made mostly of flexible textiles with embedded sensors. Wired together and hooked up to a small computer, sensors in the fabric detect strain and mimic the legs' movements, supporting muscles and joints. Besides making it easier for soldiers to march, the exoskeleton collects data on how they walk and how many calories each activity burns.
The exoskeleton looks like a set of weird pants, but it lets the Army know minute details about wearer’s physical activity.
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