West Point Exoskeleton Capstone Team wins Innovation Award

West Point Exoskeleton Capstone Team is Awarded the 2014 Scott R. Clark Innovation Award: Team T-REX (Tendon-assistive Rigid EXoskeleton), made up of cadets and faculty Reported by Dean’s Institute of Innovation and Development from Civil & Mechanical Engineering was awarded the 2014 Scott R. Clark Innovation Award, which acknowledges a project that demonstrates an innovative approach to solving a problem of direct application to the Army. The team was made up of CDTs (now 2LTs) Ryan Polston, Meagan Latimar, Brandon Zwank, Adam Hamner, and Zachary Reichert, as well as faculty advisors Dr. Becky Zifchock and MAJ Amber Walker. Charged with designing a device that would assist the soldier in carrying that load, the 2014 West Point Exoskeleton Team looked to smart materials to take a novel approach. Rather than a traditional exoskeleton which transfers load to the ground, the team designed a small, lightweight device that spans the ankle joint to provide energetic assistance during the propulsive plantarflexion phase of gait. The energetic assistance is provided by Flexinol®, a thermal-reactive nickel-titanium alloy that is only microns thick. With improved metabolic efficiency the soldier can travel further, faster, and with decreased fatigue and injury susceptibility. In addition to their recognition by the Clark Innovation Award, the team’s work was also featured in the July – August 2014 issue of Popular Mechanics: Found here and on their website: here. POCs are Dr. Becky Zifchock: rebecca.zifchock@usma.edu, and MAJ Amber Walker: amber.walker@usma.edu