Blog 4 - Future Humans

The concept of exoskeletons is both fascinating and terrifying. Exoskeletons are being developed to solve a wide range of problems from worker fatigue in manufacturing, helping rehabilitate people who have been injured and even creating better soldiers on the battle field. These exoskeletons come in a wide array of shapes, sizes, weights and functionalities. As with most technologies, the are pro’s and con’s to the development and use of exoskeletons. Two risks that concern me the most are the use of exoskeletons by military or terrorist groups and if there are long term health effects from using exoskeletons such as muscular or bone atrophy.

Toyota has developed an exoskeleton to help prevent shoulder injuries in workers that do lots of repetitive overhead work. Once the workers raise their arms above a certain point, the exoskeleton kicks in and does all of the work. I’m very curious to find out if there are any muscle issues from long term use. If these workers aren’t relying on their muscles to raise their arms overhead and building muscle while they perform these tasks, will this lead to muscle atrophy? I guess only time will tell. Could this also happen for people using exoskeletons to help them perform other tasks? How long until we end up looking like the humans from Wall-E?

Russia is currently developing a human exoskeletons to be used by soldiers on the battlefield. These suits look like something out of the movie Iron Man. Versions of their soldier exoskeletons are already being tested and they are aiming to have a completed version for use by 2025. I think its fairly safe to assume that at some point, weapons of war eventually end up in the wrong hands or they used misused for power. Whether is by the military of certain countries or terrorist organizations, human exoskeletons could prove to be one of the deadliest weapons created in recent history.

https://nypost.com/2018/08/28/russia-tests-iron-man-exoskeleton-armor/