Standards Impact

Designing Exoskeletons for First Responders

• ASTM International • Season 2 • Episode 7

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Exoskeletons are an emerging technology with potential practical benefits to first responders working in emergency services, bomb disposal, policing, and more. Join JP Ervin on the ground of ASTM’s Exo Games, a student competition initiative trying to bring exo technology to first responders. 

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JP Ervin (00:15):

I am JP Ervin, and this is ASTM's podcast Standards impact. On this episode, I'll be previewing ASTM's EXO games, which brings together student teams to compete while designing, building and testing exoskeletons. This year's focus is on first responder applications and is developed in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or nist. I'll be on site during the EXO games meeting some of the people involved in watching some of the challenges unfold. I'm joined by Bill Ott, who is executive director of the EXO Technology Center of Excellence at ASTM International. Uh, to get started, bill, can you tell me what the broad goals of the EXO games are? Why we started them and what, what the goal is to accomplish with them?

Bill Billotte (00:59):

Yeah, great. jp. Yeah. The, the goals of the EXO games, this really started about three, four years ago, and the idea was how do we kind of expand this idea of what we've been working on called research the standards, and how do we get students involved with that process? And so, you know, part of developing, uh, standards and a lot of it is test methods, is, uh, you know, you've gotta start and try out different ways to test a product, in this case exoskeletons. And so the EXO games is a way for us to bring students into that process where we're trying out current standards that are through our F 48 committee, and also some standards that are in process of development. And so the students now can participate in this and they get to build their own exoskeletons. They get to try that out with a bunch of other teams, and it helps both sides. It helps them learn stuff about how to build the technology and learn about how standards work. And it helps us develop standards for a s tm. So there's a lot of things going on, and that's what's really exciting about this is a brand new way to kind of do stuff. We all learn something from this process.

JP Ervin (02:20):

Great. And so this is the second year, I believe is the EXO games, right? And so, um, could you tell us a bit about the theme, the focus on first responders? So can you Right. Just kinda break that down for us? Sure,

Bill Billotte (02:30):

Sure. Um, so last year we held it in, uh, the United Kingdom at University of Central Lancaster. And it was more focused on, I'll say an industrial type theme. Uh, this year we decide to focus it on, uh, first responders, and part of that was, you know, I've got a long history of working with, uh, first responders and their technology and my friend, uh, Ann Verts at nist, we have a, what's called a create a cooperative and development agreement between us, uh, to work on collecting basically requirements for first responders for exoskeletons. Like we're trying to, you know, it's a fancy way of saying we're trying to figure out what functions within exoskeletons could help different first responders, whereas law enforcement, firefighter, EMS or other types of responders. And so we thought this year, you know, we could work together and do, uh, games that was really focused on tasks that, that sort of match up to the different areas of first responders and see as, as the teams sort of build these sort of customs exos for this, what's what is possible?

(03:40):

And, uh, so it's been really exciting. We've got several, uh, first responders who are participating and helping judge the event. And so, and we're, we're gonna have some demonstrations for the student teams, uh, from the first responders themselves about some of the gear they typically use, like, uh, they're gonna have a bomb suit. Um, these are very heavy, uh, if, if your, if your audience members have ever put like a weighted blanket on, think of like a 80 to a hundred pound weighted blanket all over you and a helmet on your head. So it's, it's a very, um, specialized piece of equipment. And how do you help someone who wears that with a exoskeleton? How do you make that work? Especially with all the considerations around that with being around potential explosive devices. And then we're gonna have, uh, firefighter turnout gear. We're gonna have a lot of other pieces of, of, uh, first responder equipment so that, you know, they can, the student teams can get a, a flavor, uh, of what the everyday first responder is dealing with. And if you're gonna design this technology, what does it have to fit with? So that's, that's gonna be really, uh, neat. And we're hoping we're gonna have a lot of good discussions back and forth between the teams and the judges and others that are participating.

JP Ervin (05:04):

Great. And so I, I know that this is what's pretty cool about this is you're kind of testing and real time potential applications, but you know, I think some people still, when they hear the term exoskeleton, they're picturing, you know, some kind of sci-fi power armor. Sure. I think the bomb suit kind of conjures that image too, but I was curious if you could talk more about some potential applications that that, or areas where we're considering. You mentioned bomb suits, you mentioned firefighting, but you know, what are, what are exoskeletons like for those applications and what are the possible right pieces coming down the road?

Bill Billotte (05:33):

Well, I think, you know, it's, it's funny you bring that up where it, it is very timely right now because I think a lot of people probably got to see, uh, their first kind of picture what an exoskeleton is, at least the type of exoskeleton, uh, when they were watching, uh, the opening, uh, of the Olympic games because there was an exoskeleton, a person in an carrying the Olympic torch. And that is, you know, there's a lot of, uh, names for it, but we, we call it, you know, oftentimes we call it a powered exoskeleton or a full body exoskeleton. Some pe sometimes people call it a robotic exoskeleton because it's truly they are helping someone who has some level of paralysis to walk where they could not walk before. Now there are a lot of other types of exoskeletons, but I think, you know, that's a, that's a good kind of image for, I would say the medical side of what we're talking about when we say exoskeleton in the industrial side or construction agriculture side, these are more like, almost like backpack type things.

(06:42):

Uh, 'cause a lot of 'em are either for your back or your upper arms to help you lift or move or do overhead type work. There's also a few, um, in the industrial setting that are kind of to help your legs and stuff. Uh, there's even some that, uh, they're called chairless chairs, uh, in a, in a way. So basically a lot of times when you have a shop floor, you know, they don't allow chairs on the floor because they're tripping hazard or whatever reason. You can have these, these very simple exoskeletons that you aware that should allow you to sit down when you need to in that space. So there's a lot of different types. The main two main types are powered and passive. The passive ones tend to be more, almost like, uh, can be more like, you know, the sports compression wear in that they're, uh, elastic type members in there. And a lot of times they're there again to help, uh, your back. So to give you a little bit support when you're lifting things.

JP Ervin (07:43):

Yeah, it's interesting 'cause I've, I've seen some of them in to my non-specialist eyes. Some of 'em look a lot more like a, almost like a back brace or an arm brace and things like that. Then you, you know, you again, people picturing the, uh, war hammer power arm or something very

Bill Billotte (07:57):

Fanciful there. Exactly. Yeah. We, you know, the, the, uh, you know, for, for some of us a little older, we, we still kind of think back to the old, uh, alien movie with the, the power loader. You know, that's, that's a very sci-fi way of looking at it. You know, if someone basically strapped into a forklift and it's like, well, we're, we're nowhere near that. This, this is really about, uh, really increasing people's endurance, reducing some fatigue, uh, help 'em with performance in a certain way because of that reduction in fatigue and increasing endurance also helps you with quality a lot of times. Uh, reducing a lot of, uh, you know, basically aches and pain from being in awkward postures is a lot of times, uh, what, what happens with the exoskeletons because a lot of the, the first ones that were been out in the industry were really for overhead work.

(08:49):

And if you've held your hands over your head for any length of time, especially if you got a tool in there, you know, that can become very painful and, and you only can do it a certain amount of time. So that's where a lot of these kind of got a start out in the industry is doing that kind of work. And now we're, we're looking at other areas where it can apply even, um, obviously construction, even agriculture, uh, there's a lot of different places and we're trying to make sure through the standards process that we get the exoskeletons in the right places where they can really help, not just to be there just to, you know, for someone to wear for show, you know?

JP Ervin (09:31):

Yeah, for sure. So, um, let's get back to the Exo games. And can you give us a sense of what the kind of agenda schedule's gonna be like? Sure. Like what's gonna be happening on the ground floor there?

Bill Billotte (09:41):

Sure, it is. It's gonna be, uh, kind of action packed. We're gonna, we're gonna start out with just a regular, uh, welcome safety briefing, all that kind of good stuff. Get everybody level set. And then we're gonna go in and do, uh, we're gonna start with the easy stuff, which is we're gonna do a poster session. So we're gonna have all the teams kind of have a, have a poster and explain their stuff and get questions from the judges and anybody else that's there and just kind get things kind of started that way. And then we'll go straight into the physical challenges and that'll, that'll be over the next, uh, three days where they'll be doing the different physical challenges out in, uh, the garage space at a STM headquarters. And, uh, we're gonna be building a lot of different challenges. There's 10 different challenges, everything from, uh, what we call a bomb squad walk to doing, uh, CPR.

(10:35):

And so there'll be a lot of different physical challenges. And then, uh, toward the end of the week we're gonna be doing, uh, presentations. So they'll do some formal presentations where they'll be judged and then mixed in throughout that. We've got a couple spots in there where we're gonna have some guest speakers come in who are people who work in this exoskeleton area for the students and others to kind of hear what's really going on out there in the real world, as they say. And so it's gonna be a lot of fun. And then Friday we're gonna, uh, close up with the awards and everything and celebrate having a great week, is what we're hoping.

JP Ervin (11:12):

Excellent. Well, I'm looking forward to it. And so, uh, thanks Bill for chatting with us. It's, it's been really great to pick your brain about this and I think it's gonna be an exciting event.

Bill Billotte (11:22):

Great. Glad to be here.

JP Ervin (11:27):

I'm here with Inverts project leader of the Mobility performance of Robotic Systems with nist. Uh, can you tell me a bit about yourself and your areas of specialty?

Ann Virts (11:35):

Absolutely. So I've worked at NIST for 35 years. My expertise is developing standard test methods for exoskeletons, for autonomous vehicles, for urban search and rescue bomb disposal robots. And I've been doing that the majority of my career.

JP Ervin (11:51):

Can you tell me a bit about what brings you to EXO games?

Ann Virts (11:54):

Uh, so Nest designed, fabricated, we developed most of the rules for the competition. Uh, so the expertise that we brought was the fabrication and design of the, of the actual apparatuses that they're gonna be using in the games.

JP Ervin (12:09):

What do you hope to accomplish with the EXO games in terms of what it brings to the students or the exo world?

Ann Virts (12:14):

Uh, a couple different things. So, of course, uh, bringing some real world applications into the games. So for example, we have a fire overhaul test. It's the actual test that new recruits use at the station before they're accepted into the academy. So, um, having them, having an understanding of what a firefighter has to go through when they are becoming a cadet. Um, just that real world aspect, getting out of the laboratory. 'cause a lot of these, uh, systems, they've only did, uh, very little testing and on objects that might not be relevant to the domain of public safety.

JP Ervin (12:59):

Can you tell me a bit about what you see as potential applications for EXO technology in areas like public safety?

Ann Virts (13:04):

Oh, absolutely. So we're at the infancy. Uh, so we are just starting down this very long path, and the best thing that we can do is get the, the, the subject matter experts involved at the beginning, understanding their requirements so that manufacturers are designing and developing exoskeletons for their particular domain. Because what works in industry for a car assembly plant will not work for a first responder. It's a different application. It's not a one fit all model. So having the subject matter experts at the beginning helping the design process, the development process, and using standard test methods in which to validate those products, it, it's just, it's awesome. We've got subject matter experts here. We've got retired, uh, bomb squad, retired fire, uh, uh, fire battalion chief. We have a gentleman who was with the Rangers, he was also swat. And so they will be, be able to give these students a lot of feedback on their devices, a lot of real world scenarios of what they experienced and how now 35 years, 40 years past their prime, what these exoskeletons could have done for them to save their bodies, their joints, et cetera. Because now they're living with the pain that, you know, they did not have the support systems like the new, the younger folks that are coming into public safety domain.

JP Ervin (14:32):

I, I wanted to ask why standards? What do standards bring to that kind of equation? When we're in this infancy period, as you,

Ann Virts (14:38):

It, it, it levels the playing field. So you have different manufacturers developing exoskeletons, robotic systems, whatever it is, and you need to test against something. So everybody is testing in a standardized way. So let's say you as the consumer, you're interested in purchasing a device, you go out, you've got five exoskeletons you're interested in, you send them through, you know, a suite of test methods because one test method does not determine how applicable that, uh, particular XO is for the demand. You have to do a, a wide breadth of test methods, um, and it would help you make an educated purchasing decision. It is, you know, the test methods can also be used for training. So you've got a brand new exoskeleton, how do you know that your training each employee exactly the same? You can use standards for training as well.

JP Ervin (15:30):

So last question. Um, what is, what does your day-to-day look like this week at the EXO games? Whatcha doing while you're

Ann Virts (15:36):

Here? So I'm the head judge. So basically making sure that if the, if the other judges have any questions that I answer them, um, uh, giving feedback to the context contestants of, you know, why isn't this working? Why is this working, why did you go down this path? What was your thought process? Um, yeah. And just really being excited about seeing some really cool new technology and, and, and, you know, guiding these young minds down this path of helping our, our public safety officers to be able to do their jobs better, safer, that when they are of retirement age, they're not gonna have the, uh, problems that we're seeing with the older responders.

JP Ervin (16:19):

Great. Well, it's, it's been very exciting to be here myself, so thanks so much for joining us in.

Ann Virts (16:22):

Okay, thank you.

JP Ervin (16:27):

I'm joined by Yosh Sital, who's an EXO games competitor from University of Central Lancaster, which also has an A STM student chapter. And so I wanna ask, how are the EXO games going for you so far?

Yash Seetal (16:36):

Uh, very exciting. Very, very exciting. Um, looking forward to competing against all the, the universities. Everyone here is extremely nice and welcoming as well. And see, it's my first time here at A FCM, uh, and so me, everybody's incredibly nice.

JP Ervin (16:49):

Great. And so how's your team prepared for the challenges?

Yash Seetal (16:51):

So initially upon seeing the competition, we did some research into specifically first responders. Uh, the main issues they face with these tasks. Um, as they well professionals, they trained specifically for this. Um, we then we've looked into their training methods and procedures. Great. So we're aiming to mimic or to an extent mirror how they've trained.

JP Ervin (17:14):

Great. And can you tell me a little bit about the designs and kind of things you've been working on?

Yash Seetal (17:18):

Yeah, so we, uh, our idea was that we are gonna use a low bearing exo and because it's for first responders, we're trying to keep it passive so there's no electronics on it at all, because to having electrics, typically you need batteries and there's more equipment and there's more things to go wrong. And for a first responder is the last thing on your mind. We aiming to assist the special responders with their current issues. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel here, we're just trying to help them work around the gear they already have. So our main thing that we started with was a military rig, but we noticed that although it is amazing for attaching components to most first responders don't wear military rigs, they're more comfortable in bulletproof vests or just a plain shirt. So that's what we kind of switch our focus to. So like what they would be most comfortable in.

JP Ervin (18:08):

Great. And so can you tell me a bit about your own background in this area? What led you to be interested in this kind of topic? Anything with your research, that

Yash Seetal (18:14):

Sort of thing? Me? Sure. So I just did my masters. So for three, three years of undergrad. Um, I met Matthew and Matthew's been my supervisor for my projects. Uh, and going through a mechanical degree, I'm always interested in mechanical systems and how they work and to make the most effective, how to go about it. So then to be able to implement mechanical systems in a way that can help people has been a, a huge thing for me.

JP Ervin (18:41):

Great. And what, what do you kind see as your future? Do you interested in working in EXO in other areas or what

Yash Seetal (18:46):

Sort of, definitely I'm extremely interested in key exo development and how we can help not just people who are injured or need further help, but fully able people to perform better than they already do.

JP Ervin (18:59):

And then, so ultimately, what are you hoping to get out of participating in EXO games

Yash Seetal (19:02):

This week? Uh, for me, networking meeting, absolutely everybody from a, a wide range of companies and especially A SCM International themselves, being such a highly regarded, uh, organization is incredible to be here.

JP Ervin (19:16):

Well, thanks so much for joining us, Josh.

Yash Seetal (19:17):

Thank you. Appreciate that.

JP Ervin (19:26):

Thanks for listening to Standards Impact. If you'd like to learn more about Exo technology, visit et CO e.org or astm.org. And if you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.