Warrior web to prevent injury, reduce effects of load
Thursday, October 6, 2011 - 06:30
in Health & Medicine
Todays dismounted warfighters often carry 100 pounds or more of equipment as they patrol for hours across rugged or hilly terrain. This heavy load increases the risk of musculoskeletal injury, particularly on vulnerable areas such as knees, ankles and the spine. In addition, as loads increase, fatigue and exhaustion set in faster. DARPA seeks to develop an unobtrusive, lightweight under-suit embedded with a web of miniature sensors, functional structures and compliant actuation. The suit, for example, may automatically sense when to stiffen and relax at key body joints to help prevent injury, as well as augment the work done by muscles to help counter the negative impacts of fatigue on performance and injury.
