How to cover 25 kilometers on foot carrying a big backpack in the mountains, without forcing or getting tired? Assisting walking is precisely what Hypershell offers with its light and discreet Omega exoskeleton.
In the 1970s, The Three Billion Man was an American series whose hero was Steve Austin. After crashing, this test pilot was fitted with prosthesesprostheses bionics. They came to increase his strength tenfold physiquephysique to run faster, to lift very heavy loads… That was fifty years ago and it was science fiction.
Today, it is not with three billion dollars, but rather a few hundred that almost everyone can boosterbooster its performance thanks to a exoskeletonexoskeleton. That ofHypershell is specifically designed to give a boost to your performance in the mountains and in trail, i.e. leisure activities. Because exoskeletons are often serious.
They are generally confined to the professional world, or to wage war. For leisure and the general public, the Chinese company Hexoshell therefore offers its Omega exoskeleton at an affordable price. Weighing only two kilos, it is light and designed to be easily transportable. In this way, it is possible to use it for the most difficult stages of a mountain ascent, for example. Folded up, the Omega can therefore fit in a backpack. of theof the less than 7 liters. Unlike the imposing exoskeletons, it is rather discreet.
Hypershell’s Omega exoskeleton presentation video. Among its different assistance modes, one of them allows you to do a sprint. © Hypershell
Hiking assistance
The accessory adjusts to the size of the wearer’s legs and descends from the outside of the thigh to attach at the top of the knees. The belt that carries the electronics, motor and batteries, has an aluminum-magnesium chassis. It ensures both robustness and lightness to the whole. It’s a articulationarticulation active which gives the impulses to the eight other passive joints to train the legs. To assist it, the power of the synchronous motor at magnetmagnet is only 1 ch. That’s enough to deliver assistance up to 33 pounds of thrust. With this Omega, the user therefore tires less when he needs to carry his equipment or climb a steep slope. He can even afford to run like an athlete with a vitessevitesse can reach up to 20 km/h.
Its autonomy is 25 kilometers and if this is not enough, it is possible to extend it by carrying additional batteries weighing 400 grams both. To ensure movementsmovements fluids, it is a combination of sensorssensors associated with an Artificial Intelligence which is at the maneuver. The set tracks torque, position, and force to model gait and support it. It all happens in milliseconds via two integrated processors.
As for the price, for the moment, three models are offered by the brand. The first is announced at less than 300 dollars on Kickstarter. Its power is limited and its speed restricted to 12 km/h. THE standard modelstandard model is the one with a top speed of 20 km/h. It costs $100 more. Finally, the Carbon model, lightened by a few hundred grams, is sold for 790 dollars. These exoskeletons are planned for sale from next September.
