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Does My BOT Look Big in This? Soon We’ll Be Wearing Soft Robotic Pants

"Smart trousers" could help the wheelchair-bound walk.
Image: The Wrong Trousers (1993)

It's like an extreme version of wearable tech: wearable robotics. But it's not just for playing Transformers; robotic clothing could give the disabled or elderly greater mobility, perhaps even offering an alternative to a wheelchair—starting with a pair of pants.

Today, the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council an​nounced funding for three research projects in healthcare tech, one of which aims to create a pair of "smart trousers" that could help people live more independently.

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The project, which was awarded £2 million, is being led by Jonathan Rossiter of the University of Bristol's robo​tics laboratory. He said they hope to create different wearable devices, such as a shirt, but are starting with the lower body, where they aim to help people move in ways they couldn't before. "So for example if somebody is in a wheelchair, if we can put some trousers on them, put some wearable device on them, to help someone get out of the wheelchair," he suggested.

The garments will incorporate soft robotics—movable machines with soft parts—which sets them apart from the kind of wearable tech we're used to hearing about. Rather than just tracking your movement or the environment, they provide physical support. "Instead of these things being passive devices, they're actually providing some mechanical assist—they will help to push and pull your body into position."

How the trousers will eventually look is yet to be determined—the project has just started and will last three years—but it could be something like an exoskeleton. We've seen exosuits capable of letting par​alysed patients move, or even kick a football, but this project intends to develop assistive devices for a broader potential user base. They could replace common aids like stairlifts or other supports in the home.

And it might look less robotic than you'd think; as we're talking about soft robotics, it's less about metallic limbs and more about smart materials. These are flexible, and can be sewn into clothing or made up into garments from scratch. Rossiter explained that when you apply electricity to the material, it will contract like a muscle, pushing and pulling.

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The idea is that the robotic clothes would respond automatically to the wearer's needs

"You could think of it as an exoskeleton of some kind; you could even think of it along the lines of spandex trousers," he said. "Before you put them on, they expand into a nice large shape so you can slide them on, and then when you're on they can contract until they fit your body tightly. And then they've got the muscles built in there to enable your extra movement."

The idea is that the robotic clothes would respond automatically to the wearer's needs; a sensory system senses how the body is moving, and a computer built into the device figures out what kind of activity is needed. It's unlikely anyone would keep them on all the time—comfort, hygiene, repair, and battery charge are all issues—but they could be worn pretty much like regular clothes.

At the moment, the main challenge is developing the smart, "muscular" materials, which need to generate high forces with minimal energy. To do this, they're looking at the biomechanics of real human muscles as well as artificial materials using nanotechnology to achieve a similar effect.

Rossiter said they should be able to put the trousers on a person by the end of the three-year project. "It's nice to be able to take research funding and put it into an area that's going to really help people in the short and hopefully medium term," he said.