Man machine

Nick Park’s image of Wallace being catapulted each morning into robotic trousers has brought a smirk to the face of thousands of filmgoers.

But the Wallace and Gromit concept, of wearing a mechanical device to aid mobility, is actually closer to real life than you might imagine. Exoskeletons, which can be used to boost human strength and endurance, are beginning to achieve commercial reality.

While many of the biggest recent advances in robotics have concerned artificial intelligence and enhanced autonomy, hopes are high that this parallel strand of development — a marriage of brain and machine — could soon yield results in a range of applications.

These machines mimic the limbs of the human body to which they are temporarily attached. Instead of muscles, they have powered actuators so they can be stronger and work tirelessly. They are meant to move in step with the desires of the wearer and to be ‘transparent’ in use. And, of course, they must be safe. These are extraordinarily difficult challenges for engineers but, after decades of research and improvements in control and computing power, exoskeletons are now approaching adolescence and are fit to leave the lab.