It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but new “exosuit” devices are giving Australian defence personnel an extra edge during their service.
The Apex 2, from US company HeroWear, is a lightweight exosuit that assists back muscles in heavy lifting and reduces fatigue and muscle strain by up to 40 per cent.
It uses elastic bands that work with stretching and recoiling muscles, and is made out of tough fabrics, polymers, and aircraft-grade aluminium.
It might be some distance from an Iron Man suit, but for Royal Australian Air Force Squadron Leader Sean Lacey, of the Combat Support Group, it’s an equally far cry from what was on offer when he first entered the service in 1985.
As a young jet fighter technician, workplace guidelines were looser around heavy equipment, and he unfortunately suffered a back injury that affects him to this day.
“We didn’t know the right protocols,” he said.
Since then, safety overall around handling and using heavy equipment has improved – and the Apex 2 is not just a next step, but a helper for situations where previously there had been none.
“There are situations with no manual handling equipment,” Lacey said.
This can include disaster relief, such as in flood-hit regions where the RAAF assists around the world.
In that case, deployed personnel can carry the 1.3-kilogram exosuit in their kit to the zone and use it to help prevent injury as they’re moving heavy equipment such as pallets and bags.
“It’s a great tool,” Lacey said.
But there is a limit.
The squadron leader was involved in developing a training program for using the exosuit, and he said one of the objectives was making sure people didn’t overestimate their capabilities.
“We don’t want people to think they’re superhuman,” he said.
“The exosuit is not a substitute for strength and endurance training.”
Nonetheless, he encourages the younger defence personnel to use them, and hopes to see them rolled out across the Air Force during the remainer of his career.
He said there 470 suits on order, and they were being slowly implemented among people who needed them.
The designer of the Apex exosuit was inspired, of all things, by his young children – specifically, the back pain that resulted from looking after them.
US biomechanical engineer Karl Zelik found that options on the market to help him out weren’t what he wanted, so he and his team at Vanderbilt University worked for three years to design the prototype Apex.
The original Apex hit the market in 2020, followed by the SABER device developed with the US Army in 2021.
The Apex 2, combining features from both devices, was released in 2023.
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