Funding to help Quebec exoskeleton technology firm sell unique mobility mechanism for soldiers
B-Temia, a Quebec City manufacturer of computer-controlled motorized orthopaedic supports, what the company calls “dermoskeletons” (a variation of commonly known exoskeletons), is getting a $100,000 helping hand from the federal government to market its unique technology to the military sector.
The repayable funding was granted through the Federal government’s Business and Regional Growth program and will be used to help the new start-up market its innovative technology.
The company’s aim is to eliminate soldiers’ musculoskeletal injuries, which typically occur because of heavy loads they carry on their backs (up to approximately 134 lb/61 kg) while they’re in the field.
The company defines its dermoskeleton mechanism as an automated orthopaedic supporting brace integrated onto a given joint-segment structure of the user’s body without any interaction with the environment. The device is essentially human enhancement technology; its movements mirror those of the associated body segments it’s designed to enhance.
What makes B-Temia’s technology distinct from exoskeleton solutions the military has used in the past (articulared mechanisms that run in parallel with the body structure) is in its integration of three key components: a sensor network that observes technical details and biomechanical characteristics of the user’s mobility; movement recognition software; and control software.
These three integrated components means that the company’s motorized orthopeadic devices provide “active biomechanical direct assistance of musculoskeletal structures of the human body…and have no mechanical restrictions in mobility for any movement.”
B-Temia is a private start-up company founded by Stephane Bedard, a specialist in biomechantronics, who also founded Victho Human Bionics Inc., and invented the “Power Knee”, the first motorized bionic leg that is currently commercialized by Iceland firm Ossur.
For a more futuristic take on exoskeleton technology, Iron Man style, see this YouTube video.
B-Temia
Top Image: Engadget
