After a lot of trial and error and failure, he finally completed the high tech suit ‘Mark3’, which integrates all his abilities and the most advanced scientific technology possible in reality, and is reborn as the strongest superhero ‘Iron Man’.” (Excerpt from the introduction of the movie 'Iron Man')
The red suit of 'Iron Man' that anyone who likes the hero series has dreamed of at least once. What would it look like if the suit of 'Iron Man', which was equipped with powerful weapons that could fly in the sky and defeat enemies, became a reality? After a lot of trial and error and failure, high tech suits that can draw out their abilities with cutting-edge science and technology are emerging one after another. It is a so-called 'wearable robot' that will assist in our daily life.
Expected to grow at an average annual rate of 41%, KRW 9.8 trillion
‘Average 4600 per day, millions per year.’
The average number of times workers use their arms in a manufacturing process. Repetitive work for a long time can lead to accumulated fatigue or injuries, which can lead to accidents. Recently, wearable robots have been introduced one after another in the manufacturing process, innovating the process.
Wearable robots, a next generation technology, are called wearable robots, wearable robots, or exoskeleton robots. It is a generic term for all robots that are worn on the human body and operate together with humans to assist or enhance human exercise ability and muscle strength. It is worn on parts of the body or the whole body such as a person's arms, waist, and legs, and it helps the wearer's strength and endurance.
The wearable robot market is a future industry with outstanding growth potential. Wearable robots are expected to become one of the most indispensable robotic technologies for human life as the aging of the world progresses and the interest in devices that assist muscle strength among workers increases. According to Databridge Market Research and Korea Institute of Science and Technology, the global wearable robot market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 41% from $528 million (about 625.2 billion won) in 2017 to $8.3 billion (about 9.8 trillion won) in 2025. It is expected that the market will expand beyond business-to-business (B2G) businesses such as defense and firefighting, manufacturing and construction logistics, and business-to-business (B2B) businesses such as nursing and nursing, to the individual business-to-business (B2C) market such as agriculture and catering.
In a report titled 'Technology Trends and Industry Prospects of Wearable Robots' written in 2020, Lee Jun-seok, Robot PD of Korea Institute of Industrial Technology Evaluation and Planning, said, “Currently, the ripple effect of wearable robots in the medical and healthcare fields is dominant, but gradually after 2022, attitudes at manufacturing sites It is expected to expand to the auxiliary product market.” “As technology becomes more advanced and the industry develops, the wearable robot market for supporting the work of industrial workers will rapidly increase in 2030 not only in the manufacturing sector but also in the entire industry including military and construction. It is expected to grow,” he said.
As predicted by this PD, the most popular field in the market today is the manufacturing site. In spite of the increase in mechanical equipment to prevent musculoskeletal disorders in the industrial field, many work processes are still manually handling heavy objects repeatedly. Handling excessive weight and repeatedly bending or straightening the body are the main causes of back pain. Musculoskeletal diseases such as back pain caused by lifting and lowering work that handle heavy objects using the waist are on the rise every year, and the economic loss is also increasing every year. Accordingly, even in the United States, which is leading the wearable robot industry, the growth of the industrial wearable robot market, which is used to support the work of workers, is expected to be very high compared to other fields.
With rosy expectations, companies as well as government agencies, non profit organizations and associations are investing in the market, yielding tangible results one after another. In Korea, large companies such as Hyundai Motor and LG as well as technology startups are entering the wearable robot market, making the red suit of 'Iron Man' a reality in the manufacturing process.
The robotics team at Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors developed VEX, a wearable robot that assists workers who work long hours while looking upwards on a production line in 2019. The Vex is easy to wear like a life jacket and can be used immediately. It weighs only 2.5 kg and is up to 42% lighter than existing products, so it does not burden workers. In addition, considering the characteristics of industrial sites, it is a non-motorized type of robot that does not require electricity supply. As a result of self investigation of workers' satisfaction, it was evaluated that the degree of freedom of movement was high and the muscle strength support function was excellent. Hyundai Motor and Kia plan to expand the scope of application by modifying some of the VEX so that it can be used in various industries such as construction, logistics, and distribution.
In August 2018, LG Electronics developed a wearable robot that supports lower body muscle strength, and in December of the same year, it introduced the LG Chloe Suitbot, a wearable robot that assists back muscle strength. The LG Chloe Suitbot supports the wearer's lower body and improves muscle strength, so it can be used in various fields from industrial sites to daily life. In industrial sites such as manufacturing and construction industries, heavy loads can be moved easily with much less force, increasing work efficiency.
Interview - Jaeho Jang, CEO of FRT
“It is not long before wearable robots become routine”
At the Hankook Tire T Station Daejeon branch, workers wear wearable robots to change tires. In the field, the wearable robot assists workers with their back and leg strength, helping them to install heavy tires weighing around 20kg on their cars. This suit was made by FRT, a Korean technology-focused startup company. The company drew attention by developing the first hydraulic wearable robot in Korea. I met FRT CEO Jang Jae-ho and asked about the wearable robot industry. CEO Jang is a robot expert with a history of developing wearable robots for 10 years in the Robot Group of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and starting a research company and commercializing wearable robots for the first time in the field.
-What kind of company is FRT?
“FRT means a company that has the technology to apply robots that only operate in a laboratory environment to the actual field, and is making robots that can be operated in the actual field. Among them, we are developing wearable robots as a core item.”
-Why did you create Korea's first hydraulic wearable robot?
“I have been researching wearable robots since my Ph.D., but hydraulic driven wearable robots, which were mainly researched in the US, could not be done due to the lack of research funds, technology, and elemental technology. While working at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, I was able to create a hydraulically driven wearable robot by using the existing technology of the vital source (hydraulic driven quadrupedal robot technology). Servo valves and control algorithms, which are precision hydraulic technologies used in hydraulically driven robots, are classified as defense and aerospace technologies, making it difficult to import them from foreign countries and their prices are very high, making it difficult to introduce the technology. Hydraulically driven wearable robots are essential not only for manufacturing sites, but also for defense and firefighting, which are fields that require great support, so we were able to collaborate with Sangiwon.”
-What wearable robots are currently applied to Hankook Tire?
“‘Step Up’ is a wearable robot. For wearable robots that support worker tasks, which are expected to be in high demand, we developed a product that can be quickly and inexpensively distributed to many sites, as we believe that non-motorized or electrically powered wearable robots are more suitable for business models than hydraulic driven ones. ‘Field customized wearable robot service’, which we are mainly providing, such as Hankook Tire and the Korea Forest Service, is already receiving inquiries from more than three to four companies a day whether it can be applied to the field or purchase requests.”
-Is it possible to make wearable robots a daily routine?
“If you think of a wearable robot that supports all motions as if in a movie, I think it will still take a lot of time due to disadvantages such as cost and weight. However, if wearable robots that contain only essential functions for each worksite are made inexpensively, ‘the wearable robot’s daily life’ is likely to be possible in the near future. The challenge has already begun in developed countries such as the United States, Europe, and Japan.”
-Korea is said to dream of becoming one of the four major powers in the robot industry by 2023. How about global competition?
“A lot of companies are investing in wearable robots. A lot of competition is expected. In Korea, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is providing a lot of support through research and development (R&D) projects and dissemination projects to industrialize the wearable robot field. We are also receiving a lot of support for business related to the Ministry of Industry. I think that Korea's wearable technology itself is already at a level that can compete with the world. However, efforts for commercialization and commercialization seem to be lacking. This part requires a lot of effort from the perspective of companies, investors, and customers. In order to become one of the four major powers, various related actors will have to work together. In particular, if there is no world No. 1 industry or product leader in the related field like the wearable robot market, many failures in technology development, product introduction, etc., and the process of overcoming them are necessary. When comparing the size and completeness of the current market, it seems that the wearable robot industry should not be evaluated from the same perspective as other existing industries.”
