The machine simply moves its legs in sync with the person.
Specialists from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen have successfully tested a prototype combining a cargo robot and an exoskeleton. It is designed as a "centaur" – under the cargo platform, two legs are installed, and it is attached to the back of a person, who simultaneously serves as a support and navigation device. This design facilitates the transport of heavy loads over long distances, for which industrial exoskeletons are not intended.
An important feature is the isolated mechanism that operates independently, although it synchronizes its movements with the person. For this purpose, it includes a predictive control and trajectory planning model. This allows the robotic legs to coordinate movement with the speed and direction of the user's walking.
Engineers used a spring connection with nonlinear stiffness between the person and the robot. Under low loads, the connection remains rigid – the robot simply moves its legs in sync with the person. As the load increases, it begins to adjust to take on part of the weight – this affects the nature of the robot's leg movement. It still moves behind the operator at the same pace, but the character of the gait changes.
Such a robot can reduce the carried weight by 35-50% depending on the type of cargo. The pressure on the operator's feet decreases by 52%. There is no data on operating time and maximum load capacity – after all, this is still just a prototype. However, the potential area of its use is already clear – for example, transporting cargo in conflict situations and during rescue operations.
