Chinese scientists have developed a flexible and controllable robotic exoskeleton suit that can help people climb a mountain with about 30 kilogrammes of weight, likely to enhance the fighting capacity of soldiers.
Scientists from the Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, recently completed an exoskeleton that can help people climb mountains with 30 kilogrammes of gear, or punch through a wall without breaking a sweat, state-run China Daily reported.
The exoskeleton looks more like an iron skeleton with a bevy of sensors and electric wires. When worn, its sensors catch every move's neuromuscular signals and respond with the right action.
"The potential application of the exoskeleton is wide," said Wang Yucheng, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology.
The institute, a unit of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, focuses on robotics and intelligent manufacturing.
At a Brain-Inspired Intelligence Forum in June, Tan Tieniu, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said, "Artificial intelligence will bring us into the second machine age - an age featuring exponential growth, digitisation and combined innovation."
One of the uses of such an exoskeleton is to increase the fighting capacity of an individual soldier as it can carry heavy load, the report said.
