BEIJING: For 23-year-old Zhao Xiangcai, a college student in Tai’an, Shandong province, climbing Taishan Mountain — a popular scenic spot known for its steep terrain with over 7,000 steps — had always been a daunting task. This Spring Festival, his otherwise exhausting experience was transformed by a robotic exoskeleton device. “It felt like the robot was doing most of the work for me, and climbing was so much easier,” Zhao recalled. “I simply pressed a few buttons under the guidance of the staff, and it (the device) automatically adjusted to my walking pace. It was so easy and cool.”
The robotic exoskeleton, weighing just 1.8 kilograms, has been developed by the Taishan Cultural Tourism Group in collaboration with Kenqing Technology, a company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. It is designed to assist users in climbing steep terrain with ease.
The device, which fits snugly around a user’s waist and legs, integrates advanced ergonomics, power electronics and artificial intelligence algorithms to perceive movement and provide assistance based on the terrain and the user’s strides. The robotic exoskeleton can function nonstop for more than five hours on a single charge, covering approximately 14 kilometers of steep terrain, making it an ideal companion for those who want to enjoy the bliss of mountains without excessive physical strain. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
