The Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (BLEEX) is a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

ic device that attaches to the lower

body Body may refer to: In science * Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space * Body (biology), the physical material of an organism * Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anima ...

. Its purpose is to complement the user's

strength Strength may refer to: Physical strength *Physical strength, as in people or animals *Hysterical strength, extreme strength occurring when people are in life-and-death situations *Superhuman strength, great physical strength far above human ca ...

by adding extra

force In physics, a force is an influence that can change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (e.g. moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate. Force can also be described intuitively as a p ...

to the user's lower extremity bodily movements. The BLEEX was funded by the

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adv ...

(DARPA), and developed by the Berkeley Robotics and Human Engineering Laboratory, a unit within the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Department of Mechanical Engineering. DARPA provided the initial $50 million of start-up funds in 2001.Singer, Peter W
"How to Be All That You Can Be: A Look at the Pentagon's Five Step Plan For Making Iron Man Real"

The Brookings Institution
2 May 2008.

Design

The BLEEX has four

hydraulically Hydraulics (from Greek language, Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is th ...

actuated joints: two at the hip, one at the knee, and one at the ankle. The BLEEX is energetically

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...

, meaning it has an on-board power supply. Development later moved to Lockheed Martin, where the device became known as the Human Universal Load Carrier, or HULC.

Performance

The BLEEX consumes 1143

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s of hydraulic power during ground-level

walking Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults o ...

along with another 200 watts of electrical power for electronics. It can support a load of while walking at , and can walk at up to without any load.

References

Robots of the United States Robotic exoskeletons 2003 robots University of California, Berkeley {{robo-stub