A new glove now being tested with workers on assembly lines uses robot power with the goal of reducing fatigue and repetitive injury.
The Swedish company Bioservo has partnered with General Motors to test and manufacture the gloves. The gloves can increase wearer hand strength by about 20 percent.
It acts as a sort of soft exoskeleton, but instead of a rigid external device, the Ironhand glove is much the same texture as a regular glove.
Costing about $7,000, the glove system has a backpack housing the power supply that connects to the glove with a remote control to adjust strength and sensitivity. Each glove has artificial tendons in the fingers and sensors on the fingertips. The system also collects data that the company can use to assess the risk of strain injuries.
Work-related neck and upper limb injuries are the most common occupational disorders in Europe, according to the European Agency for Safety and Health Work.
According to market research firm ABI Research, the exoskeleton market will grow to $6.8 billion by 2030.
Bioservo thinks the glove will have wide application in construction, manufacturing and warehousing, although the latter is widely considered to be the domain of robotics.