Toward Commercial Viability of Wearable Exoskeletons

Abstract

Abstract The article focuses on the emerging area of wearable assistive exoskeletons, which has been receiving considerable attention over the past 30 years or so. Exoskeleton technology has been widely assessed as having great potential to meet several societal challenges, and major investments have been made to advance research and development, and to open new commercialization opportunities via investment to develop exoskeleton products. However, to date, little impact has been made despite the technological developments and large number of startups that have been created globally only to disappear very quickly. We review the sector holistically and present evidence-based rationale why meaningful progress is not being made to progress the sector so that it is able to meet the expectations of stakeholders. This under-performance stems from a basic misunderstanding of the demanding requirements for success, coupled with the non-availability of high-quality exoskeleton parts at an appropriate cost; in fact, most are at a low technology readiness level (TRL). The article presents details of the challenging requirements for the main exoskeleton sectors and the TRLs of available exoskeleton components by reviewing the literature and using the personal expertise and experience of the authors. After understanding the technology and commercial landscapes for exoskeletons, a commercially viable strategy is proposed to focus on how the emerging and growing global healthy-aging applications can be successfully addressed via the creation of consumer exoskeleton products able to meet the high-quality/affordable cost challenges based on recent ISO robot modularity guidelines.