Comau Launches MATE - A Compact, Lightweight Wearable Exoskeleton Fit for Workers

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The MATE Fit for Workers exoskeleton uses an advanced spring-based passive structure. MATE delivers lightweight, breathable and highly effective postural support without the need for batteries, motors or other failure-prone devices. It is also compact and ergonomically designed thanks to the partnership between Comau, ÖSSUR, a leading non-invasive orthopedics company and IUVO, a spin-off company of The BioRobotics Institute (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna) specialized in wearable technologies. MATE is fully able to replicate any movement of the shoulder while adhering to the body like a "second skin".

Maurizio Cremonini, Comau Head of Marketing, commented, "We are particularly proud to have developed this innovative wearable technology. MATE has been designed in close collaboration with factory workers, thus responding directly to their specific needs. With our exoskeleton, they will be able to do the same tasks but with less fatigue. For Comau, this is also an extraordinary opportunity to reach a global market that, according to the IFR, grew more than 60% from 2015 to 2017 and is estimated to continue growing at a rate of 25% each year until 2020. We believe that the industrial sector will represent about one third of the exoskeleton's applications." 

Reflecting Comau's vision and commitment to innovative, open and easy-to-use technologies, MATE is an important part in the company's HUMANufacturing Technology strategy, a concept in which people are protagonists within the smart factory together with cutting-edge, digital tools, enabling technologies and 'intelligent' industrial robotics within a networked production system. It is also the first of a series of wearable robotics that Comau is developing and commercializing in partnership with IUVO and Össur. A fundamental aspect of the collaboration is the joint desire to progress and evolve human-machine collaboration within diverse sectors, including biomedical, manufacturing and consumer. MATE was designed and developed at the Comau HUMANufacturing Innovation Center in Pontedera (Pisa), Italy.

Features 

• Designed in close collaboration with factory workers engaged in manual activities
• Naturally comfortable, breathable postural structure
• Compact structure fully follows the movements of the upper limb without resistance or misalignment
• Passive spring-based mechanism -  no risk of battery or motor failure batteries because the system does not use them

Benefits 

• Reduction of shoulder muscle activity for some muscles of up to 50%
• Users can do the same tasks with less fatigue
• Consistent, ergonomically-assisted movement support increases the quality and precision of repetitive tasks
• Users can improve their quality of work