Titan Arm: Students' robotic arm can make you stronger

In this Friday, Dec. 6, 2013 photo, Nick McGill wears the Titan Arm as he poses at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. 

The robotic device invented by four University of Pennsylvania engineering students can help its wearer carry an additional 40 pounds. 

The prize-winning prototype builds on existing research in the field of exoskeletons, an area that experts say will grow as the population ages. 

Students say some current exoskeleton models can cost $100,000. They created the award-winning Titan Arm for less than $2,000. 

AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma

Need a hand lifting something? A robotic device invented by University of Pennsylvania engineering students can help its wearer carry an additional 40 pounds (18 kilograms).

Titan Arm looks and sounds like part of a superhero's costume but its creators say it's designed for ordinary people—those who need either physical rehabilitation or a little extra muscle for their job.

In technical terms, the apparatus is an untethered, upper-body exoskeleton; to the layman, it's essentially a battery-powered arm brace attached to a backpack.

Either way, Titan Arm's cost-efficient design has won the team accolades and at least $75,000 in prize money.

"They built something that people can relate to," said Robert Carpick, chairman of Penn's mechanical engineering department.

"And of course it appeals clearly to what we've all seen in so many science-fiction movies of superhuman strength being endowed by an exoskeleton."

The project builds on existing studies of such body equipment, sometimes called "wearable robots."

Research companies have built lower-body exoskeletons that help paralyzed people walk, though current models aren't approved for retail and can cost $50,000 to $100,000.

The Penn students were moved by the power of that concept—restoring mobility to those who have suffered traumas—as well as the idea of preventing injuries in those who perform repetitive heavy-lifting tasks, said team member Nick Parrotta.

"When we started talking to physical therapists and prospective users, or people who have gone through these types of injuries, we just kept on getting more and more motivated," said Parrotta, now in graduate school at the university.

In this Friday, Dec. 6, 2013 photo, Nick McGill, center, wears the Titan Arm, as he poses alongside his student colleagues Elizabeth Beattie, left, and Nick Parrotta at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. 

AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma