A003 / Future Stores
Associate Exosuits
Future Stores
Enhancing associate performance and improving safety using soft robotic exoskeletons
One of Lowe's greatest assets is our associate workforce. At Lowe's Innovation Labs, we have a history of exploring emerging technologies that might be able to empower our associates.
Back in 2017, our team partnered with Virginia Tech to conduct a pioneering exploration around the use of soft robotic exoskeletons in a retail environment.
What it is
Lowe’s and Virginia Tech collaborated to develop an exosuit, a wearable robotic suit with lift-assist technology, designed especially for retail associates.
Lift and Assist
Lowe’s stock employees are responsible for the critical task of unloading every truck delivery and moving all products onto the sales floor, during the day and throughout the night. They can spend up to 90% of their time at work moving and lifting freight.
As one of the first retail applications for robotic exosuits, this version is intended to make lifting objects easier.
We conducted a limited trial in our Christiansburg, VA store in 2017.
The exosuit has no motors or fancy software, but it could prevent thousands of workplace injuries per year.
How it works
These custom exosuits were designed with carbon fiber rods on the back and legs, which assisted with a lift mechanism, and lightweight, conformable fabrics to help incentivize fluid, natural movements.
For the purposes of our trial, the suits stored and released energy as a person bent and lifted, similar to a bow and arrow. This was designed to reduce the amount of energy an employee expels while lifting.
These lift-assistance exosuits were designed specifically to emphasize ergonomics, and to store and return power to an associate, potentially making them able to perform tasks with less exertion.
The exosuit accomplishes this by absorbing energy and delivering it back to the employee, enabling them to exert less force to complete certain movements. As employees bend and stand, the suit’s carbon fiber legs and back act like a taut bow and arrow, helping them spring back up with greater ease.
As a result, commonly lifted objects, like a bag of concrete or a five-gallon bucket of paint, will feel significantly lighter to the user.
