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Robotics

Cashed-up Sarcos exoskeleton powers toward commercial production

By Nick Lavars
September 10, 2020
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Sarcos Robotics has just raised another $40 million in funding, bringing its total of venture capital to $100 million
Sarcos Robotics
Exoskeletons that augment the physical capabilities of human users could find some very useful applications
Sarcos Robotics
Sarcos Robotics revealed its Guardian XO in January last year
Sarcos Robotics
Sarcos Robotics has just raised another $40 million in funding, bringing its total of venture capital to $100 million
Sarcos Robotics
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Exoskeletons that augment the physical capabilities of human users could find some very useful applications, and one gaining a lot of attention is assisting workers lifting heavy loads in industrial settings. Last year, we got our first look at an ambitious take on these high-tech suits in the Guardian XO from Sarcos Robotics, which has just gathered US$40 million in new funding to bring its full-bodied exoskeleton to market in 2021.

Sarcos Robotics revealed its Guardian XO in January last year, showing off what it described as the world’s first battery-powered, full-body industrial exoskeleton. The company says this untethered suit can operate for up to eight hours on a single charge and offers wearers a 20 to 1 strength amplification.

This could mean that lifting a 100-pound (45-kg) load would feel like carrying a five-pound load (2.2 kg), for example. This kind of capability drew the attention of Delta Airlines, which earlier this year teamed up with Sarcos Robotics to embark on pilots trials where its frontline workers would put the Guardian XO suit to the test.

Exoskeletons that augment the physical capabilities of human users could find some very useful applications
Sarcos Robotics

As reported by VentureBeat, Sarcos Robotics has just raised another $40 million in funding, bringing its total of venture capital to $100 million. According to the tech news site, these funds will be used to commercialize the Guardian XO, which Sarcos Robotics hopes will also eventually find use in industries such as health care, disaster recovery, mining and security.

You can see the exoskeleton demonstrated in the video below.

Source: Sarcos Robotics via VentureBeat

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Nick Lavars
Nick has been writing and editing at New Atlas for over six years, where he has covered everything from distant space probes to self-driving cars to oddball animal science. He previously spent time at The Conversation, Mashable and The Santiago Times, earning a Masters degree in communications from Melbourne’s RMIT University along the way.
3 comments
Daishi
My challenge with it is this, if you gave that task to a bunch of engineering and robotics students could they design a machine that performs the same function that you don't have to stand inside of to operate? For starters you could probably buy a fleet of forklifts for the cost of one of these and they all outlift it. Without the heavy lift requirements you could probably design something a lot lighter than a traditional forklift that uses a robotic arm with an adaptable grab on the front. It would be a wheeled vehicle with an arm in the front that someone could stand on and control like a mini-lift. Being a wheeled platform would allow the weight like batteries and some motors to have a low center of gravity and it would have a larger wheelbase than a biped. In short, I don't think this is better engineering, I think it's better science fiction. Please stop putting legs on robots and that includes exoskeletons.
Tech Fascinated
I'm surprised in the video that the exoskeleton legs don't seem to be attached to the operator. You can see large gaps appear when lifting. Seems very awkward.
Daishi
@RobC I think the legs not being attached is actually good design for a couple of reasons. The machine needs to be responsible for the load of its own weight and lift, not the human inside of it. I could attach machines to me to make my muscles stronger but my joints are only designed to support my ability, using my joins for the work of a machine would be a really really bad idea if I'm planning to need them again. Secondly, if you have every used a leg machine in a gym, even when you adjust it the pivot points for the machine and the pivot point for your legs are never exactly the same. You address this on the machine by using a rolling pad so it can roll up your leg to counter act the different fulcrum points. These are the reasons the human in the exoskeleton must be free floating and the only thing they are contributing to the machine is as an operator or control but not as a source of structure for the machines power. Essentially when an exoskeleton is properly designed the human is only an operator that could almost just as well be seated behind the thing rendering the entire thing essentially pointless unless the "science fiction" value is the goal. If the goal is efficiently helping humans move loads around there are probably many more efficient and less expensive designs with lower maintenance. But efficiently isn't the only goal, a company using these would probably succeed at generating publicity and sometimes that's its own worthwhile goal.
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