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China

Recovering Samples From the Moon, China's Chang'e-5 Team Used Exoskeletons (universetoday.com) 26

Posted by EditorDavid from the iron-men dept.
AmiMoJo quotes Universe Today: Other worlds aren't the only difficult terrain personnel will have to traverse in humanity's exploration of the solar system. There are some parts of our own planet that are inhospitable and hard to travel over. Inner Mongolia, a northern province of China, would certainly classify as one of those areas, especially in winter. But that's exactly the terrain team members from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC) had to traverse on December 16th to retrieve lunar samples from the Chang'e-5 mission. What was even more unique is that they did it with the help of exoskeletons.

Strangely enough, the workers wearing the exoskeletons weren't there to help with a difficult mountain ascent, or even pick up the payload of the lunar lander itself (which only weighed 2 kg). It was to set up a communications tent to connect the field team back to the main CASTC headquarters in Beijing. The exoskeletons were designed to help people carry approximately twice as much as they would be able to. Local state media described a single person carrying 50kg over 100m of the rough terrain without becoming tired. Setting up communications equipment isn't all the exoskeletons are good for though. They were most recently used by Chinese military logistics and medical staff in the Himalayas, where the country has been facing down the Indian military over a disputed line of control.
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Recovering Samples From the Moon, China's Chang'e-5 Team Used Exoskeletons More

Recovering Samples From the Moon, China's Chang'e-5 Team Used Exoskeletons

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  • One step closer to the "combat suit" described by Robert Heinlein about 60 years ago. And of course by about only 200 anime titles.

  • "I wanna build a spaceship, go to the moon, salvage all the junk that's up there, bring it back, and sell it,"

  • Practical? (Score:3)

    by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Sunday January 03, 2021 @01:32PM (#60891132) Journal

    I'm not sure the exoskeletons are all that practical in general. I think that for repetitive actions they may be useful in reducing fatigue so a person can work longer. However, the videos of the exoskeletons shown in use in this story would not be practical in actually increasing a person's strength. The reason is very simple - they are still holding the object with their hands. So their hands, wrists and forearms still have to bear all the weight. I race hare scrambles (dirt bike racing in very tight, rough woods environments for upwards of 2 hours straight). The weakest link for myself and most riders? Our hands and grip.

    So if a person can normally lift 75 pounds reasonably, and the exoskeleton is designed to "help people carry approximately twice as much as they would be able to" (and they give the specific numbers of carrying 50 kg / 110 pounds), then a person's hands still have to bear that weight unaided. So I call BS in this context, as a person wearing thick winter mittens on top of everything else is not going to be able to hold onto 110 pounds of weight purely with their hands.

    Now maybe the models shown in all these links are not the same as those actually used, in which case my comments are moot. Well, they're moot in any case actually lol.

    • They're messing with these things where I work. The idea is to double the weight that a worker may safely carry. Labor laws set that limit at 25/30kg. With the exoskeleton, that limit might be raised to 50kg. A weight that your wrists can still comfortably cope with if you have a good grip; the skeleton reduces the strain on your arms, and reduces the chances of injury (especially the lower back).

    • The video shows some suits with straps around the neck, which seem to transfer part of the load to a gusset behind the neck. It seems that the hands handle little weight, and are more used for guiding the orientation of the load.

      That said, in those instances in the video the workers are clearly lifting with their backs, not with their legs. This just looks like an injury waiting to happen.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by khchung ( 462899 )

      Now maybe the models shown in all these links are not the same as those actually used, in which case my comments are moot.

      You guessed right, look at this link where the actual exoskeleton was shown:

      http://k.sina.com.cn/article_1... [sina.com.cn]

      The author of TFA obviously cannot read Chinese, and either just randomly searched for some exoskeleton link, or was paid to promote that particular exoskeleton.

      In the Sina article (in Chinese, you can try Google translate), the exoskeleton used was clearly shown, which said it will work for load up to 50kg, it will reduce the strength required by 60% and reduce "energy use" (whatever that means) by

      • Cool videos. I was certain the not so successful testing videos from the 2010 documentary Iron Man 2 were not included in the article for the bad publicity it would bring.

        The exoskeleton used for the moon sample recovery had no upper body assistance, the user is expected to either lift with their arms or use straps to hard mount points on the shoulders. A very interesting solution to minimizing complexity. With no part of the exoskeleton shown extending below the knees the weight on the backbone of the d

  • Either these exosuits were worn discreetly under winter clothing, or there are no pictures of them in use in this operation.

  • It is very boring for me, talk to me! Write me. Maybe we will make friends ==>> bit.do/fMdEm

  • Strangely enough, the workers wearing the exoskeletons weren’t there to help with a difficult mountain ascent, or even pick up the payload of the lunar lander itself (which only weighed 2 kg).

    No, the only thing strange was reporters who cannot even read Chinese trying to report news in China. And this kind rubbish is what you will get. The moon samples collected was roughly 2kg, what kind of fool would forgot about the container?

    Go to this link [sohu.com]. Look at the third picture which is an animated gif. The rough translation was the guy telling the reporter, he could only carry that load for 20-30m without the exoskeleton, and with the exoskeleton he can go 100m without difficulty. Next the report

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