A new product frontier has emerged for power tool companies: Exoskeletons. Hilti has been in this game since 2020, and their current offering is the EXO-S, created in collaboration with German exoskeleton manufacturer Ottobock (we looked at Ottobock’s work here). The $1,450 EXO-S is unpowered and designed to reduce strain on neck and shoulder muscles while working above shoulder level.
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Festool’s newer ExoActive exoskeleton is a step above, being powered.
The ExoActive takes one of Festool’s standard 18V batteries, juicing motors that provide up to 50 Newtons of boost; what that means, in practical terms, is reducing the workers’ perceived* load by up to 5kg (11 lbs). In theory at least, this means a worker could work with an 11-lb tool overhead and feel only the weight of their arms.
A controller allows the worker to dial in both the power level and the work profile, the latter having three options: Waist-up work, chest-up work and overhead work.
Just how much the exoskeleton actually weighs is murky. Festool lists the weight as 7kg (15.4 lbs) “without accessories” and 13.3kg (29 lbs) “including accessories.” That’s a massive difference, and they don’t explain what the accessories are. The product page shows a headrest, the 18V battery and the controller, listing no other accessories—I have a hard time believing those three items weigh 6.3kg (14 lbs). Are they perhaps referring to the case it comes in, or the extra battery and charger?
In any case, here’s Festool’s demo:
And this is a less varnished, perhaps more useful demonstration by a product tester:
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Not being able to swap the battery out while wearing it is probably something that will be corrected in future versions.
*The reason I write “perceived” load, is because I believe there’s a potential issue with torso-based exoskeletons—not just Festool’s, I mean the form factor in general. The potential issue:
Our bodies operate holistically. If doing overhead work with an 11-lb tool and wearing a 29-lb exoskeleton that mitigates the weight of the tool, a worker can presumably go for longer, experiencing less shoulder fatigue. However, there’s still an additional 40 lbs of weight on the worker’s knees that is not being alleviated, and a worker is perhaps spending more time on the task without taking a break that their knees might need. So I do wonder if that imbalance—less stress on the shoulders, more stress on the knees—will take a long-term toll on the body. Time will tell.
The ExoActive is currently not for sale in the U.S., though it’s probably on the way. The Festool UK website lists the pre-tax price at £2,494.80 (which is USD $3,166).
Source: core77