Wearable assistive devices for dismounted soldiers

Abstract

Military organizations have been pursuing methods to enhance soldier performance and survivability during warfare for quite some time. Assistive technologies (AT), defined here as skin-out devices that reduce physiologic work and/or musculoskeletal loading, are one such solution. These AT include exoskeletons (rigid and soft, active and passive), load redistribution systems, and energy harvesters. Some recent AT have demonstrated a reduction in energy cost or injury risk associated with common military tasks such as walking and load carriage. Effective implementation of AT has the potential to mitigate the negative effects of load carriage and enhance the performance of dismounted soldiers. A wide variety of AT with potential application to dismounted soldiers are currently being developed. Due to rapidly maturing technologies and the increasing importance of reducing burden whilst also enhancing the capability of the Warfighter, there is a need to better understand the value proposition of AT for dismounted operations. This thematic session seeks to describe the breadth of AT and their individual applications, benefits, limitations and level of maturity; present findings from related research and evaluations; and discuss performance trade-offs between the variety of AT and dismounted soldier mission sets.