Agadexo exoskeleton from Agade

AGADEXO is an innovative exoskeleton designed to assist operators with manual material handling (MMH) in a variety of settings.

It is based on AGADE's hybrid robotic technology, which provides intelligent support with low power consumption. During MMH activities, AGADEXO is able to automatically compensate for physical effort in relation to the user's movements and motions. The low power consumption significantly reduces the weight of the batteries and motors on board, making AGADEXO lightweight and comfortable.

The modular design can support the shoulders and lumbar spine separately through the two versions, AGADEXO Shoulder and Low-back, or both simultaneously in the AGADEXO Full-body version to tailor the best human augmentation experience to the needs of the market.

Close cooperation is maintained with the customer's operating personnel.

It directly involves employees and workers in a journey of exchange and development that has the common goal of achieving better occupational safety combined with improved process efficiency.

Collaboration with customers begins with the analysis of usage scenarios for the exoskeleton. The collected data is used to define the optimal requirements for force balance, ergonomics and usability of the device. The adaptation of the functional properties of AGADEXO to the requirements of the application is then followed by practical tests in which the end users are directly involved.

AGADE (from which the startup takes its name) is the wearable robotics technology behind AGADEXO's operations.

It is a hybrid drive designed to intelligently compensate for gravity while minimizing energy consumption and production costs. This is possible thanks to its unique and patented design, which consists of a spring, an optimized kinematic transmission and a small motor.

AGADE is able to adapt muscle unloading to the user's movements and detect the presence of a user-selected payload. Thus, AGADEXO can achieve a gravity compensation of 25 kg, with up to 10 times the power reduction compared to conventional electric motors used in active exoskeletons.

AGADEXO Shoulder is an active upper extremity exoskeleton designed to reduce muscle effort in the shoulders during fast and dynamic manual material handling tasks (typical in manufacturing, logistics and retail).

This exoskeleton is based on an innovative hybrid motion technology consisting of an electric motor, an elastic mechanism and a network of force and motion sensors. This design massively reduces power consumption while providing intelligent gravity compensation that automatically adapts to the user's movements and payloads.

The device uses wireless wristbands to detect hand payloads during pick-and-place tasks and automatically switches between two modes:

• Transparent mode when no payload is transported: The exoskeleton minimizes interaction forces with the user and thus follows his movements exactly.
• Assistive mode when the user picks up and carries payloads: The exoskeleton provides an average torque of 36 Nm to compensate for gravity and reduce the load on the user's shoulders.

AGADEXO Shoulder is made almost entirely of carbon fiber parts, which have the dual purpose of providing structural support and cover for the electronics and battery.

The kinematic chain provides a large and ergonomic range of motion for the degrees of freedom of the shoulder.

Technical data:

• Total weight of the device: 4 kg (8.8 lb)
• Maximum torque to compensate for gravity: 40 Nm (20 Nm for each shoulder)
• Battery life: 20 h
• Autonomous hand payload detection
• Human-machine interface via smartphone app