Ekso

Some jobs on Ford's automotive assembly lines require workers to be constantly reaching overhead, and a whole day of doing so can really take a toll on the body. That's why the motor company has recently partnered with Ekso Bionics to trial an upper-body exoskeleton known as the EksoVest.

Practical exoskeletons have moved closer to common usage with the news that Honda has begun leasing 100 of its Walking Assist Devices to hospitals in Japan so that it can monitor and validate their usefulness of the device in the real world.