Exoskeletons and Wearable Robotics

In Episode 33 of the Robotics and Exoskeletons Podcast, Bobby Marinov turns the interview toward longtime co-host and Arizona State University professor Dr. Thomas "Tom" Sugar for the first part of a career-spanning look at how his work evolved from automotive noise and vibration testing at Saturn and product-development work at W. L. Gore & Associates into compliant wearable robots. Tom revisits his earliest parallel pneumatic mechanisms, spring-based actuation and phase-control ideas, a...

Ten years after the first Wearable Robotics Innovation Challenge, we take a look at what has happened to the competition's winners and runners-up: In Episode 32 of the Robotics and Exoskeletons Podcast, Professor Thomas Sugar and Bobby Marinov revisit the seven WearRA Innovation Challenges held from 2016 through 2022 and ask what became of the memorable ideas. We trace projects ranging from HART Lab’s human-modeling work and EduExo’s educational kit to the Compact X-scissors shoulder me...

In Episode 31 of the Exoskeletons and Wearable Robotics Podcast, Bobby Marinov and Dr. Tom Sugar explore the growing library of books on exoskeletons, wearable robotics, and biomechatronics. From newly updated engineering textbooks and influential classics to accessible STEM books for younger readers and the hands-on EduExo Pro handbook, we discuss what each publication offers, who it is intended for, and how today’s resources can guide learners from their first introduction to wearable techn...

CES 2026 in Las Vegas is the busiest consumer electronics show, and this time, consumer exoskeletons and similar technology had a larger presence than ever. I counted 21 booths with relevant products and did my best to personally try on the devices and talk to as many representatives as possible. In Episode 30 of the Exoskeletons and Wearable Robotics podcast, Dr. Tom Sugar and I discuss what I saw at the trade fair, while he adds information from the producer’s website. Join me at my very f...

In this episode, Bobby Marinov from Exoskeleton Report and Dr. Tom Sugar from the Wearable Robotics Association recap their November trip to Germany for WearRAcon Europe 2025, A+A Düsseldorf, ExoPark, and the ExoWorkAthlon. They discuss the scale of the world’s leading safety trade fair, the growing momentum behind occupational exoskeletons, standout presentations from the conference, hands-on demonstrations, emerging evaluation tools, and the energy around the exoskeleton industry as it cont...