After nearly a decade of research and development, soft wearable robots are leaving the laboratory and are being deployed across a range of exciting application areas, according to Conor Walsh, a professor at Harvard University. The members of his multidisciplinary team used their backgrounds in robotics, functional apparel design, and movement science to develop assistive technologies.
In his RoboBusiness Direct discussion at 2:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020, Walsh will provide an overview of how this technology has matured. He will also give examples of its commercial use through collaborations with industry partners. The Harvard team’s long-term vision is for ubiquitous soft wearable robots that can be worn all day, every day, in the community, home, sporting, and workplace environments.
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RoboBusiness Direct is an ongoing series of digital events delivered by brightest minds from the leading robotics and automation organizations around the world. The series complements continuing coverage and analysis in Robotics Business Review, a sibling site to The Robot Report.
RoboBusiness Direct is designed to impart to business and engineering professionals the information they need to identify market opportunities, successfully develop and deploy the next generation of commercial robotics systems, and accelerate their businesses.
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About Conor Walsh and wearable tech
Walsh is the Paul A. Maeder professor of engineering and applied sciences at Harvard University. He is also the Gordon McKay professor of engineering and applied sciences at the John A. Paulson Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and a core faculty member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. In addition, Walsh is the founder of the Harvard Biodesign Lab.
Walsh has established the Harvard Medical Device Innovation Initiative, which provides students with the opportunity to collaborate with clinicians in Boston and emerging regions such as India. His research group is also dedicated to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education and has launched the Soft Robotics Toolkit, an open-source resource to promote and disseminate materials for soft robotics.
Walsh’s work has been recognized with multiple awards, including the MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 Award, the Early Academic Career Award in Robotics and Automation from the IEEE RAS, the Rolex Award for Enterprise, and the MIT 100k Entrepreneurship Competition Grand Prize. He received his BAI and BA degrees in mechanical and manufacturing engineering from Trinity College in Dublin, and MS and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This RoboBusiness Direct session on exoskeletons and assistive systems is sponsored by maxon.
