WorldWide Drilling Resource

Deployment Nears for Full-Body, Powered Industrial Exoskeleton Adapted from Information by Sarcos ® Robotics Sarcos ® Robotics develops robotic solutions to augment human workers. The company has made a number of significant technological advancements for its highly anticipated Guardian XO Max full-body, powered industrial exoskeleton robotic sys- tem. The company has completed the assembly of the world’s first all-electric, battery-powered, full-body industrial exoskeleton capable of enabling a human operator to safely lift and manipulate up to 200 pounds for extended work sessions, and they plan to start shipping the Guardian XO Max to customers in early 2020. With 17 years of development efforts, Sarcos has been laser-focused on ensuring the Guardian XO Max is safe, intuitive, and power efficient. Initial testing has demonstrated an unprecedented reduction in power consumption, with the system re- quiring less than 400 watts of power while walking at human speed. This reduction is more than a 90% decrease in power typ- ically required for humanoid robots while enabling work sessions of up to eight hours on a single charge. Furthermore, the unit is designed to allow its battery modules to be “hot swapped” in the field within seconds without loss of power to the unit. “There are many misperceptions regarding the commercial readiness and viability of full-body industrial exoskeletons that are capable of substantially increasing human strength and endurance, including the amount of power required to operate these ma- chines,” said Ben Wolff, chairman and CEO of Sarcos Robotics. “With our innovations in optimizing power utilization, Sarcos has been able to do what no other robotics company in the world has been able to do with powered exoskeletons or humanoid robots - power a human-scale robot doing meaningful work for up to eight hours on a single charge.” The Guardian XO Max will usher in a new era of intuitive user experiences through implementation of Sarcos’ proprietary advanced control system, called “Get-Out-of-the-Way” control, which will simplify the operation and use of these suits. The control system is de- signed to eliminate any delay between movement of the human operator and the exoskele- ton by relying on a suite of sensors integrated into the exoskeleton, foregoing the need for sensors to go directly onto the human body. The result is the capability of the Guardian XO Max to respond to the human operator’s movements in milliseconds, allowing the op- erator to intuitively control the robot in a way which leverages his or her instincts and re- flexes, and minimizes the need for human training. The exoskeleton will also reduce load strain to improve worker safety. Occupational back injuries cost U.S. employers more than $100 billion annually, under- scoring the need to improve worker safety and provide a means to eliminate strain on the body. The Guardian XO Max has been designed to be full-body and fully-powered, meaning the entire weight of the suit, as well as its payload, is transferred through the suit’s structure to the ground. This results in offloading 100% of the weight the worker is bear- ing, as wel l as the weight of the suit itself, which substantially reduces the operator’s metabolic output and drasti- cally reduces the risk for worker strain or injury. John Santagate, research director at the International Data Corporation (IDC) said, “The potential for full-body, powered exoskeleton technology is immense - from giving our workers superhuman strength without putting added strain on their bodies, to improving productivity and efficiency. Sarcos’ Guardian XO Max will be a game changer for the industrial workforce, improving strength and capa- bilities, reducing the risk of injury on the job, and increasing the quality of life and longevity of workers.” 7 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® MAY 2019 C&G