Lowe’s Prototype Exoskeletons Give Warehouse Workers A Boost

Hardware chain Lowe’s is outfitting employees with a simple exoskeleton to help them on the job. The company has partnered with Virginia Tech to develop the technology, which makes lifting and moving heavy objects easier. The non-motorized exoskeletons are worn like a harness, with carbon fiber rods acting as artificial tendons — bending when the wearer squats, and springing back when they stand up. “It feels very natural,” Kyle Nel, the director of Lowe’s Innovation Labs, tells The Verge. “When the person is walking and bends down to pick something up, the rods collect potential energy.