Electronic motors are making their way into all sorts of vehicles these days. Bikes, cars, scooters, foil boards, stand-up paddle boards, and even electric mini novelty battle tanks (credit to electrek.co for that last one with their blog article titled, “Complete list of the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicles of the Week”). But a particularly interesting contraption has been circulating around the internet the last few weeks: electric exo-skeletons—devices that essentially motorize your body.
Exoskeletons that help with lower body mobility have been around in hospitals and rehab centres as medical devices for years. Recently, these Transformer-looking devices have entered the home fitness industry, such as the Enhanced Robotics Sportsmate 5, which turned heads in 2022 with its “indoor resistance, outdoor assistance” design. Even more recently than that, the outdoor recreation industry is seeing similar designs with refined algorithms and AI to let people hike further and faster, while expending less energy.
I’ll pause for the eye rolls before I explain more.
I came across the Dnsys X1 Exoskeleton in a tongue-in-cheek article on pinkbike.com, where writer Dario DiGiulio described it as: “Imagine, you can effectively turn any bike in your garage into an e-bike, not via modification to the vehicle itself but instead by strapping this device to your meatbody.” After looking at a few (more serious) YouTube reviews of the Dnsys X1, I learned that like all electric motor technology, this device has limits. It’s certainly not the exosuit Ellen Ripley would use to throw the Xenomorph Queen out of a spaceship airlock. As YouTuber Stephen J Reid put it, the equipment “will not turn you into a super hero. If you cannot currently run up a mountain, you will not able to do so wearing these.” The built-in safety mechanism switches the device off when you overextend (such as climbing onto a ledge), so there’s no utility here for rock climbers or scramblers.
Now for the opinion. Do I think these things are silly? No. Silly-looking maybe, but so were the first automobiles when horse-drawn carriages dominated the high street. We’ve been through this cycle of purist resistance before with e-bikes. Now we’re awash in them. So let’s forego the whole “outdoors should only be for people who suffer as much as I do” argument. And just like e-bikes, exoskeletons have the potential to help people live fuller lives, moreso than harm the outdoor experience for everyone else.
An example of an exoskeleton changing someone’s life for the better is former pro BMX racer and mountain bike freerider Tarek Rasouli. He was paralyzed from the waist down while testing a jump for the fifth Kranked freeride film in 2002. While his mobility became tied to a wheel-chair, he stayed in the mountain-bike industry by founding his events and athlete management company Rasoulution. In 2020, former motocross professional Hannes Kinigadner invited Rasouli to one of his own rehab sessions using an Ekso Bionics exoskeleton. While Rasouli still won’t be able to climb a mountain or ride his bike in the same way again, the exoskeleton allows him to build up muscle in his glutes and lower back, allowing him to endure longer days in the wheelchair with much less pain.
If you need any more proof powered pants are on their way to the outdoors, Arc’teryx partnered with Skip (a spinoff of Google X Labs) to launch the MO/GO pants. These look much more normal than strapping a pair of robotic suspenders to the outside of our hiking shorts and have the Arc’teryx price tag to match (preorders are in the US$5,000 range). Final prototype testing of the MO/GO pants had people with heart conditions or recent knee surgeries hiking to the top of the Stawamus Chief, something they were unable to do since their respective injuries and medical conditions. It’s all a very feel-good story, one of technology extending the capabilities of humans who have had to step back from more intense recreation.
Let’s remember, these pants are not marketed as medical devices (and are not likely to fall under the coverage of your extended benefits plan). While the early adopters and marketing message will be around helping lower-mobility hikers, it won’t be long before perfectly able-bodied hikers are wondering if they can spend less time sweating and more time soaking up the views at the top of a mountain. But I think for the life-improving cases alone, recreational exoskeletons will be here to stay.
Vince Shuley has a few bits of hardware holding his body together on the inside. For questions, comments or suggestions for The Outsider, email [email protected] or Instagram @whis_vince.
