In the first ever annual ASTM Exo Games hosted by the University of Central Lancashire, four Master students in Electromechanical Engineering took on the challenge of designing an exoskeleton that complied with ASTM standards. The device was tailored to the four tasks representing typical activities an industrial exoskeleton user might perform: sitting on a chair and getting back up, walking a long distance with a weighted vest carrying weights, palletizing a number of heavy boxes and stacking cups on top of each other, which was mainly meant to judge how much the exoskeleton impeded its wearer's movements.
The BruBotics team's exoskeleton was an innovative passive exoskeleton with both back and arm support. Bungee chords connected between the wearer's legs and back would stretch when bending over, pulling the user back to an upright position with minimal effort. These elastic elements would loop around a set of wheels, increasing the lever arm and subsequently reducing spine compression, a common drawback of back exoskeletons. Another set of bungee chords connected between the shoulders and a set of gloves allowed the wearer to rest heavy weights onto their shoulders, delaying fatigue. Besides the physical tasks, a presentation and poster were also part of the competition.
The BruBotics (AKA Vexo) team was commended for their efforts by the jury and was awarded 1st place in the design competition. They came in 2nd place in the overall competition, narrowly beaten by the University of Central Lancashire team. The development of the exoskeleton is documented in this research paper.
The second annual ASTM international Exo Games were held from 5 to 9 August 2024 at the ASTM headquarters in West Conshohocken, USA. This year's edition was centered around first responders and the tasks were defined accordingly: a bomb squad walk, deploying a fire hose, performing CPR, crawling through tight spaces and several others, bringing the amount of tasks up from 4 to 10. The duration of each task was also increased to 20 minutes. Another new part of this edition was the Team Description Paper (TDP); a short document detailing the design of the exoskeleton and the strategy for the competition itself.
By analyzing the tasks in the AugmentX lab and performing muscoloskeletal simulations, we identified the areas of the body that would benefit most from being supported. VEXO's new and improved S²AME exoskeleton thus features a collapsable version of last year's lumbar extension for the back support, adjustable length of the arm and back support and a brand new shoulder support system, based on a latching cabinet hinge. With the fall harness no longer being required, a more comfortable and adjustable backpack-like interface was used. The same interchangable bungee chords and leg straps were used, keeping the exoskeleton's modular nature. Even with all these new and improved features, the cost of the exoskeleton was barely more than last year's.
The BruBotics team competed against two worthy opponents, the University of Maryland and the University of Central Lancashire, the reigning champion of 2023. Unfortunately, we were again ended shy of taking the crown at 3rd place in the main competition. However, we took home three of the four other prizes: best poster, best presentation and best Team Description Paper!
