Lockheed Martin partners with B-TEMIA to bring robotic exoskeleton technology to the infantry
ORLANDO, Fla. –Infantry technology experts at Lockheed Martin Corp. are expanding their use of roboticexoskeleton technologies to enhance the warfighter's ability to carry heavy loads, increase endurance, and reduce stress on the back and legs.
Toward this goal, the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control segment in Orlando, Fla., is licensing the bionic augmentation technology Dermoskeleton from B-TEMIA Inc. in St-Augustin, Quebec.
Dermoskeleton is the basis for computer-controlled devices that can increase an infantryman's mobility and load-carrying capacity by counteracting overstress on the lower back and legs. The technology essentially is a wearable robot that helps the warfighter perform challenging tasks.
Lockheed Martin's technology license permits use of B-TEMIA technology to products for military, industrial, commercial, and first-responder applications. B-TEMIA's proprietary Dermoskeleton technology provides improved mobility, strength, and autonomy to the user, with applications in the military, industrial, and medical fields.
B-TEMIA’s proprietary Dermoskeleton technology is based on the interaction between the human body and its environment while assisted with a skin-type motorized mechanism.
Considered as a pure human-machine interface, the Dermoskeleton eliminates musculoskeletal stress on the body structure by injecting biomechanical energy at the joints, and providing mechanical assistance to the users for the restoration, maintenance, or augmentation of their biomechanical functions.
Using high-end sensors and advanced artificial intelligence proprietary software, the Dermoskeleton senses the user’s mobility intentions and generates synchronized movements at the motorized knees.
The robotic system does not move for the user; instead, it senses the intended movement and provides the right level of assistance in symbiosis with the body motion.
Acting as a secondary artificial musculoskeletal structure surrounding the body, the Dermoskeleton can protect the wearer against extreme activities, and prevent acute or chronic musculoskeletal injuries while increasing strength, endurance and stability.
Related: HULC exoskeleton user testing awarded to Lockheed Martin
"This technology offers a pathway to increased loadbearing and greater agility for our FORTIS industrial exoskeleton," says Glenn Kuller, Advanced and Special Programs vice president at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "It also can help to solve existing limitations of powered exoskeletons for our military and first responders."
Lockheed Martin's FORTIS exoskeleton is an unpowered, lightweight exoskeleton that increases an operator's strength and endurance by transferring the weight of heavy loads from the operator's body directly to the ground through a series of joints at the hips, knees and ankles.
FORTIS technology originates from Lockheed Martin's exoskeleton research to assist soldiers in carrying heavy equipment over long distances. It applies the same principles to exoskeleton development for industrial settings.
For more information contact Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control online at www.lockheedmartin.com/us/mfc.html, or B-TEMIA Inc. at www.b-temia.com.
Learn more: search the Aerospace & Defense Buyer's Guide for companies, new products, press releases, and videos
