If we abolish patents innovation will finally be possible.
There is a patent for a 3D printer enclosed in a box. A number of plastics print much better when in an enclosure with no drafts and more easily controllable temperatures.
But instead, 3D printers must be sold and function on their own without a box, to avoid the patent. Enclosures are then sold separately and you end up with a 3D printer in an enclosure anyway, but that doesn’t infringe on the patent… so it’s allowed.
I assume you are talking about this Stratasys patent that expired earlier this year, https://patents.google.com/patent/US6722872
> 1. A three-dimensional modeling apparatus comprising a heated build chamber in which three-dimensional objects are built, a base located in the build chamber, a dispensing head for dispensing modeling material onto the base, the dispensing head having a modeling material dispensing outlet inside of the build chamber, and an x-y-z gantry coupled to the dispensing head and to the base for generating relative movement in three-dimensions between the dispensing head and the base, characterized in that: the x-y-z gantry is located external to the build chamber and is separated from the chamber by a deformable thermal insulator. [...]
There is progress. Japan has been developing assistance exoskeletons as an answer to elder care problems: power assist devices to allow not-strong people to lift/carry elderly people. Interestingly, much development has gone into pneumatic devices as they are inherently more waterproof than electric.
"In Japan, the commercialization of exoskeletons is already underway. Innophys, a startup founded in 2013 at the Tokyo University of Science, has already dispatched about 1,000 units across the country, in particular to Asahi-Sun, an elderly care supplier. Lighter than ActiveLink's AWN-03, Innophys' Exo-Muscle is a little less quick but offers more flexibility for a similar lifting capacity of 22 to 30 kilos (48 to 66 pounds). But Exo-Muscle uses an entirely different technology: compressed air, which is injected into rubber valves that inflate and contract."
https://worldcrunch.com/tech-science/an-aging-japan-turns-to...
Innophys suit has a compressed-air tank with limited endurance, built to be periodically refilled from a stationary compressed-air system on job sites (since those are common in many industrial settings). Notably, their ad copy says: "Simply fill it with air using the supplied pump and it is ready for use. Therefore it can be used anytime, anywhere, for an unlimited amount of time, easily. When the assistive power weakens, just add more air." i.e. you're expected to be able to pump the thing (they include a hand pump as a last resort!) at any time.
The AWN-03, for its part has one set of high-power motors for when it's connected to AC power and a lower-power motor for battery operation; that Panasonic division, in the 5 years since that story was written, discontinued that product and defined down the problem to less power-hungry assist modes, namely short assistance during particularly strenuous motions.
To be clear (not to be snide, just to improve clarity), increased power density is the ability to discharge energy in larger amounts in shorter time periods (think heavy lift olympians). Energy density is the ability to store large amounts of energy for longer periods of time (think long distance runner). Some applications, like cell phones are quite happy with high energy density, but relatively low power density. Others, like an battery-electric drill, need more power density but can offset the low energy density by swapping out batteries and having a rotable pull.
Great idealic batteries for this application would have both large energy and power desnity. I say this because people often overlook "batteries" that people don't refer to ass batteries because they generally don't come in a self-contained cell (they have subsystems that don't benefit much from cellular architectures). Case in point are Hydrogen fuel cells. I'm not saying their better than Li-ion, but they are for certain applications. Often H2 fuel cells are paired with Li-ion batteries or supper capacitors to provide improved power when transient energy bursts are needed. H2 fuel is stored in some tank - perhaps a pressure tank, perhaps in the form of Aluminum and water reaction, or for this application it may likely be some metal hydride that stores H2 'benignly'. However, to your point, even these metal hydrides have a lot of room and potential for improving energy density.
My only point here is that, cureently, the best answer may not be a single cellular battery, but some hybriid of energy storage technologies.
It's possible to have the device be corded and stay within a room or set of rooms.
Is wheeling the verb for it anyway?
This would have made a great premise for an Asimov story.
That's where I'd foresee the limitations - that you'd end up hefting 80 lbs of battery for 20 minutes of operation.
The portable exoskeleton is a pretty big leap though. I think in order to have it be useful anywhere else but at home it would need to be significantly longer on the order of hours. I'm thinking time it takes from getting out of a car to go in to a shop and run an errand and come back (perhaps extra battery packs in the car or a place to recharge from the car)
Bit of a sad story, but it never fails to motivate me past my usual, procrastinating self.
giving someone an exoskeleton might be something much more joyful and inspiring than a wheelchair, it can revive your life
I do not want to talk down on the wheelchair, but what about an exoskeleton as simply another way to get around and do other things, you cannot do in a wheelchair, because not every way is level? That would probably be a further improvement, if the tech would be ready and affordable?
If I ever loose my ability to walk, I really hope walking "wheel"chairs or something like a exoskeleton will be avaiable.
i never meant to deny your own experience, I was mostly sad about the high cost and limits of a wheel chair.
People like you are the best hope. Independent inventors aren't bound by manufacturing economics.
Side question: how much power does it take to run existing, mobility oriented exoskeletons?
I imagine an insurance company is heartless enough to believe that a much cheaper wheelchair is "good enough" and there's "no reason" to pay the hefty costs for an experimental exoskeleton.
The powered ones are still too expensive for anything but the most niche applications sadly.
Kind of like picking up one leg at a time with your arm, while the other stays locked through some ratchet system.
It's just a hazy idea, but it could definitely help with the power issue. It's pretty much the same principle as a wheel chair in that regard.
I mentioned fitting similar to spandex because all these other suits are bulky. Sure, this system would still have bulk, but it should be more conforming than mechanical legs that sit several inches outside of the person's natural legs. Good luck fitting on public transportation, airplanes, or even walking through a 32" door if you were a bigger person to start with.
https://www.ted.com/talks/hugh_herr_the_new_bionics_that_let...
Now that some of the earbud manufacturers are dabbling in processing of environmental sound, some people may be able to use consumer grade equipment, particularly younger Boomers and older Gen-Xers, due more to stigma than anything else.
Unfortunately that probably reduces volume of product for everyone else, keeping the mean price roughly the same but jacking up the high end.
I feel like we've made leaps and bounds in prosthetics this past decade but orthotics and exoskeletons haven't been following the trend for some reason. As an engineer I imagine there are some significant design constraints that make it hard but seeing what we're capable of doing in any other industry I can't help but feel the problem has to be something other than purely technical limitations. The price is also a big issue, 10k for the cheapest exoskeletons, 150k for the one in this article.