Friday, October 12, 2012

NASA Introduces the X1 Exoskeleton

For the past 18 months I've worked on a project that was so cool and so inspiring, and yet I couldn't share it with you all. Well, now I can.

Yesterday NASA introduced the X1 Exoskeleton to the world. It was even a feature article on the NASA website! (full link HERE)

X1 Team Members - Chris, Roger, and Myself:


To give you a short recap: X1 is an Exoskeleton designed as a collaboration between NASA and the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). Started in 2011, X1 is a spinoff technology from the Robonaut 2 project, also developed in our lab and currently living aboard the International Space Station. Initially developed as an assistive walking device for persons with paraplegia, X1 also has huge potential as an in-space exercise device for astronauts. Astronaut muscle degradation and bone loss are huge concerns for space flight and we hope to add X1 to the list of countermeasure devices that are available to the flight surgens and crew.

Check out the links above to learn more about the device and the other awesome robots that we are working on in our lab.

And check out the youtube video below!