From laboratory to catalog
For most of their history, exoskeletons were research prototypes funded by governments. A commercial market is a recent development, mostly from the 2010s. This article focuses on that business side: who sold what, to whom, and why the first products looked different from the powered armor of the early prototypes. The military projects themselves, such as Hardiman and the defense-funded programs, have their own history.
Spin-off companies
Several early companies grew directly from university and defense research. Ekso Bionics, based in California, was founded around 2005 to commercialize technology from Homayoon Kazerooni’s group at Berkeley; its first customers were largely rehabilitation clinics, while a related line of suits targeted workers and soldiers. ReWalk Robotics, from Israel, developed a frame for people with spinal cord injuries, and a version received U.S. regulatory permission for personal use around 2014. Cyberdyne in Japan, which grew out of work at the University of Tsukuba, sold its Hybrid Assistive Limb for rehabilitation and care. Sarcos, which had worked on powered suits under defense contracts, later moved toward industrial systems. In Europe and Asia, other firms followed, along with large manufacturers of cars and electronics who developed devices for their own workforces.
These companies discovered that the military and medical customers had very different needs, and that the first sales often came from clinics, which could pay high prices, rather than from individual users or soldiers.
Rehabilitation as the first market
Rehabilitation provided the most direct commercial path, because there is an established healthcare system, therapists who can supervise use and a pathway for regulatory approval of medical devices. Clinics purchased wearable gait trainers for patients recovering from spinal cord injury or stroke. Prices of the early devices were commonly in the range of tens of thousands of dollars, and personal-use devices were sold or leased in limited numbers. Insurance coverage varied by country and over time, and it has been a significant factor for patients. As with the other medical uses, this article describes history only and does not evaluate treatment.
Passive suits and the workplace
For industry, many of the more successful early products were not robotic at all. Passive exoskeletons use springs, elastic bands or gas struts to support a worker’s arms during overhead tasks or to help the back when bending. They need no battery, weigh less than powered frames and cost far less. Automakers, shipyards, construction firms and logistics companies tested these devices to help reduce strain injuries among workers who repeat the same awkward movements for hours.
Evidence on how well they work is mixed. Laboratory studies often show reduced muscle activity in the supported areas, but a few also show that stress may shift to other parts of the body, and long-term injury data is limited. Many companies have run small pilot programs rather than company-wide rollouts. Worker acceptance matters too: a suit that is hot, awkward or slows the task may be left in the locker.
Powered industrial systems
Powered frames for factories and warehouses are the more ambitious category. Some are intended to hold heavy tools or let a worker lift loads with reduced effort, drawing on the same electric motors and lithium-ion batteries that other robots use. The business case is difficult: a powered suit must be cheap enough, safe enough and fast to put on and off to beat alternatives such as lift-assist machines or better workstation design. Companies selling these systems have reported pilots with large customers, though the figures that are available publicly are limited, and sales have so far been modest compared with the broader robotics market.
Standards and safety
A device worn on the body needs its own safety rules. In the 2010s international standards bodies published safety requirements for personal care robots, and work on standards specific to exoskeletons followed. Medical exoskeletons are regulated as medical devices in markets such as the United States, while industrial ones are generally treated as workplace equipment, and the rules differ by country. The regulatory path has influenced which products reached the market first.
The market so far
Commercial exoskeletons remain a small industry. Most devices target narrow tasks, from supporting a shoulder during overhead drilling to guiding a leg through a step. Prices have fallen for passive models and remain high for powered ones. Industry forecasts of rapid growth have appeared regularly, and treating them with caution is sensible, since early expectations were often higher than the sales that followed.
A fair summary is that the move from defense to commerce was less a transfer of finished suits than of components, ideas and people. The first commercial successes were medical clinics and simple passive supports. Fully powered suits for general work are still in development and rely on continued progress in batteries, materials and control.