Robotic Exoskeleton for Skiers Getting Ready for Market

DooKey

DooKey

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Roam Robotics is developing a new exoskeleton device that you can attach to your legs that will make you a better skier. This device is lightweight and will use machine learning to figure out how you ski. Once it does that it will enable you to turn better and will also allow you to stay out on the slopes longer. The technology they are using is similar to tech they developed for Navy SEALS that enable them to run faster and more efficiently. If you like to ski this device should be available for rent sometime next winter in the Tahoe and Park City, Utah, areas.

Now the company is readying its first consumer exoskeleton, and Roam believes skiing is the perfect use case given that its exoskeletons deliver power to the legs, fit well with an active lifestyle, and represent a large potential market. So skiers better get ready to start seeing people zipping by them effortlessly on the slopes wearing what appears to be little more than standard leg braces.
 
Maybe for someone who has a disability, for the rest of us: learn to ski properly, it's fun and part of the challenge.
 
Unless you are like me....go through all the classes and still manage to screw up a simple turn and tumble down the mountain. I am lousy at making my body replicate what others are doing. I can't dance either.

It is the reason I have only been snow skiing once.

I am very good on rollerblades though.
 
Hey here's an idea: Do a sport you can actually do? What? That's too mainstream for you?

It's one thing to make aids for things that are a necessity, but for a hobby or past time? If you're not good at it choose another one. What's the point of this?
 
BSmith said:
Unless you are like me....go through all the classes and still manage to screw up a simple turn and tumble down the mountain. I am lousy at making my body replicate what others are doing. I can't dance either.

It is the reason I have only been snow skiing once.

I am very good on rollerblades though.
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Same. My brother took me skiing once. Gave me a quick rundown and dump me on biggest slope and left me. I didn't have a good time time and never went skiing again. I wasnt even 10.
 
Monetizing military technology. Pretty much the only thing I see in this article.

Skiing is already limited to people that have access to snowy mountains. It's incredibly expensive, and requires commitment and patience. There's also the athletic factor, can't think of the last time I saw a 400lb whale trying to showcase their sick turns on a mountain. It can be cold, uncomfortable, and painful at times. For all of these reasons a lot of people love skiing. It's not for everybody.

According to the article this device is essentially being touted as a replacement for proper instruction, and won't ever enable you to become a better skier. If it is automatically making turns for you, your muscles and connective tissue won't develop in the key areas that could actually strengthen you as a skier over time. Being forced to ski a certain way won't change your habits when the machine is not present. It's not going to replace a parent figure that showed you patience and understanding while trying to get you comfortable on skis. You're not going to look back on it fondly as you get older as a memory one would feel obligated to recreate with their own children.

Seeing products like this really infuriates me, and as a lifelong skier, it shows the disconnect between the commercialized, industrial world, and the natural one coexisting with nature.
 
BSmith said:
Unless you are like me....go through all the classes and still manage to screw up a simple turn and tumble down the mountain. I am lousy at making my body replicate what others are doing. I can't dance either.

It is the reason I have only been snow skiing once.

I am very good on rollerblades though.
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Perseverance wins (though you need to learn how to fall...I used to do jumping, ski ballet, backwards skiing (when I was a teen), passed the most advanced ski class when I was 14, but still had some pretty good tumbles. Of course I had an advantage, learned when I was five--low center of gravity. But my mom learned in her 40's (using the GLM method don't know if they still do that, worked for her) if she can do it anyone can :). But I quit alpine skiing when I was 20 and took up cross-country exclusively, a lot cheaper and no crowds.
 
Even the instructor, at the end of the class, told me I better not leave the bunny slopes. Of course, I did, only because my Wife was a natural and was bored with the bunny.

When one ski goes one direction and the other goes another (ice rut),....controlling the fall is difficult. To my credit I did not break anything. According to the lady who stopped to check on me, she was surprised I did not break everything.
 
I worked at a mountain through high school working with beginners in the rental dept. This type of thing sounds really bad. We had people sign up as experts because they were "athletic" but really were beginners. Most ended up busted and broken in first aid. I can only imagine what people will do with robotic helpers.. back then I could get down the mtn on a board if someone wanted me to go.Now forget it
 
BSmith said:
Even the instructor, at the end of the class, told me I better not leave the bunny slopes. Of course, I did, only because my Wife was a natural and was bored with the bunny.

When one ski goes one direction and the other goes another (ice rut),....controlling the fall is difficult. To my credit I did not break anything. According to the lady who stopped to check on me, she was surprised I did not break everything.
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Snowshoing can be fun too...now there a set of bionic legs might be nice go farther especially when breaking trail :). The worst wipe out I ever had was when a beginner on an advanced slope hit me from behind, my safety strip broke and I had to go down the rest of a long slope on one ski and a bruised foot. It's not a sport for those who put safety first ;). Sounds though like the instructor gave good advice.
 
oldmanbal said:
According to the article this device is essentially being touted as a replacement for proper instruction, and won't ever enable you to become a better skier. If it is automatically making turns for you, your muscles and connective tissue won't develop in the key areas that could actually strengthen you as a skier over time. Being forced to ski a certain way won't change your habits when the machine is not present. It's not going to replace a parent figure that showed you patience and understanding while trying to get you comfortable on skis. You're not going to look back on it fondly as you get older as a memory one would feel obligated to recreate with their own children.

Seeing products like this really infuriates me, and as a lifelong skier, it shows the disconnect between the commercialized, industrial world, and the natural one coexisting with nature.
Click to expand...

I'm not a huge fan of the device, but I don't think it's doing nearly as much as you think. It isn't making turns for you at all, it's using the machine learning to anticipate when you will make a turn, and use that moment to help you generate more power by pressuring against your shin bone and "lifting" up behind your quads - essentially just making your legs artificially stronger to put more power into your turns. You still have to have the technique, this is essentially just "steroids".
 
TwistedAegis said:
I'm not a huge fan of the device, but I don't think it's doing nearly as much as you think. It isn't making turns for you at all, it's using the machine learning to anticipate when you will make a turn, and use that moment to help you generate more power by pressuring against your shin bone and "lifting" up behind your quads - essentially just making your legs artificially stronger to put more power into your turns. You still have to have the technique, this is essentially just "steroids".
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Now that I've gotten my rage out of the way, I'll use my son as an example for why this could be beneficial. We ski a few times a year, and initially I had his grandfather take him up to the resort for morning lessons a few times before I was free to ski with him. (we have ridiculously busy schedules in the winter) The instructors teach young kids to ski with the pizzia method, where you essentially keep the points of your ski closer than the backs of your skis creating a V . They teach the kids not to use the french fry method as it will cause them to go too fast and potentially out of control. While this is great for beginners, when you try to move up to the next level, it really hampers your progress as it doesn't enable you to learn how to turn properly. Over the last winter everytime I went skiing with my son I found myself riding him about getting his back ski 'french fried' when turning and stopping. This enables you to go down more difficult terrain safer, with more control, and allows you to stop on a dime. Due to his 2 years of pizzia skiing, it's been really challenging to make the jump of pizzia to french fry. Learning to dig in that back foot on the turn is the big learning curve in progressing the the next level for skiers. Once you are able to do it comfortably, the mountain is yours.

If this device were able to make that transition easier/faster, then it would potentially have a niche for skiers that may not get as much time on the hill that want to accelerate their progress towards more varied terrain.

Now for another usage, I would like a device that can keep your knee in range and prevent it from some of the damage that can be sustained on more serious terrain like steep diamond moguls. While it may be a nice ai/learning machine, I might actually find it more useful if modified into a static knee brace/guard.

Also keep in mind that a lot of individuals that have the money to spend a week at a resort have fairly significant wealth and with kids these days, might see a package with fun technology, that promises to make your kids a better skier as just another luxury box check off while vacationing.
 
Agreed, on an average holiday week a family of 4 with 2 children will spend approximately $2,500 on lift tickets alone ( for a full week ). Children's programs for the kids adds another $50-100/ day each and rentals end up being about $100/ week for all.. Something like this gizmo could catch on pretty quickly
 
If you need this to ski, give up on skiing. Get a snow bike or something.

Erwachsene-und-Kinder-beim-Snowbiken_front_magnific.jpg
 
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