The applications that are given to the most popular SBC are at least as varied as possible and go beyond mounting consoles for emulators and retro games. We’ve seen it in things like a 3D printer and even computer mice that use the nano version as a microcontroller. The last? An exoskeleton built with a Raspberry Pi 4.
One of the areas in which robotics has made more progress in recent years is in helping people with reduced mobility. And it is that every day many people face the difficult task of being able to move around the architectural impediments in their city. Especially those of hostile and little conscious urbanism. One of the solutions to this are exoskeletons and a project carried out by a university student has strongly caught our attention. Although it must be said that at the moment it is in the early stages of development.
This is the exoskeleton made with Raspberry Pi 4
Well yes, and we owe that to the research of a Stanford University student, specifically Patrick Slade who has decided to use a Raspberry Pi 4 to build his Exoskeleton . Which for the moment only serves to be able to walk with less effort, but which is still an interesting proposal in order to take this technology beyond the military field.
The reason why you have decided to do this is not one, but several.
- The first of all is that it allows the final design to be individualized to the physique of each of the users and this is a very important element, since not all of us are the same.
- The second is that its processor allows the execution of several simultaneous threads that are used to take data from the sensors, interpret them and also control the motors. Which is something that cannot be done using conventional microcontrollers and the development of custom hardware would end up increasing costs if a custom chip is used.
- The third element is availability and cost, a Raspberry Pi 4 can be found at a much higher level than an FPGA and allows for lower cost production and is intended to be produced on a large scale. Which is ideal for a project that seeks to become a product for the mass market.
- And lastly, this allows the system to learn the way users walk and be able to adjust the exoskeleton, even using AI algorithms for it.
Although best of all is the fact that due to the low consumption of the Raspberry Pi, the exoskeleton does not need to be connected to a generator to work. What makes its portability possible.
Good performance for a prototype
As for their performance, it has been shown that they can increase travel speed by 9%, consuming 17% less energy. All this carrying a 13 kg backpack. His only problem? The amount of circuitry in sight, but we must assume that it is a prototype. In any case, it is the first step to see exoskeletons, not only for accessibility, but also to facilitate physical tasks in daily use.