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PSNS worker Ron Zmijewski wears an upper body exoskeleton at the Naval Museum in downtown Bremerton. The shipyard has partnered with a Utah robotics company to find new uses for exoskeletons and robots in its work. (Photo: Larry Steagall / Kitsap Sun)
BREMERTON — They have the technology and think they can make the shipyard worker better, stronger, faster.
Fans of the 1970s sci-fi show “The Six Million Dollar Man” will remember Col. Steve Austin’s transformation as astronaut-turned-agent of superhuman strength, thanks to bionic implants throughout his body. Now, that technology is becoming reality and being applied to work at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
In this case, no surgery is required. Wearable robotics, known as exoskeletons, have begun to enter American manufacturing to ease ergonomic stress and bolster workers’ strength. In a first for the nation’s four Navy shipyards, PSNS is partnering with a Utah-based robotics company to develop programs in Bremerton.
“This partnership provides an exciting opportunity for the shipyard to develop innovative solutions to improve our work while providing a safer, more ergonomic work environment for our employees,” Capt. Howard Markle, shipyard commander, said in a press release.
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The shipyard has signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with Sarcos Robotics, a 35-year-old company based in Salt Lake City and with offices in Bellevue. The partnership was born out of the shipyard’s designation in 2017 by the Office of Naval Research as a “technology transfer laboratory” to more quickly move advanced technology into practical applications.
Already, the shipyard is using 15 spring-actuated backpack-like exoskeletons at Shop 75, its ship inactivation and dismantling arm. The systems, which have also been loaned to other shops, help to lighten the load on workers doing difficult overhead work.
“These systems assist but do not make the mechanic stronger, but rather transfer the forces to other parts of the body or to a stationary stanchion,” said Ron Zmijewski, the shipyard’s technology transfer manager.
The Sarcos partnership, however, will usher in a new era of exoskeleton and other robotics. The company’s website advertises three main products: the Guardian GT, whose arms can replicate its human controllers while lifting 1,000 pounds; the Guardian XO, a yellow full-body exoskeleton that “amplifies the wearer’s strength and endurance;” and the Guardian S, with a tank-like tread and snake-like body, which can burrow its way into hard-to-reach places without involving a human at all.
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The company began in the early 1980s, helping to develop the first prosthetic arm with robotic technology, Ben Wolff, chairman and CEO of Sarcos Robotics, said in a recent interview with Robotics Business Review. In 2000, Sarcos began working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on early exoskeletons. It was bought by Raytheon and later sold again become an independent company, but Wolff said some employees of the now 110-employee company are engineers who’ve been there from the beginning of its exoskeleton project.
“Sarcos’ mission is to deploy robots that augment human workers in a way that reduces the risk of injury and death on the job, while increasing productivity and efficiency,” Wolff said in a news release. “We look forward to collaborating with PSNS & IMF to ensure our robotic systems address the specific needs of the Navy and its workforce.”
It may only be a matter of time before the shipyard has its own bionic men and women, working, like Col. Steve Austin, better, stronger and faster.
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