Comau launches compact wearable exoskeleton MATE

Jun. 28, 2018 – Comau unveils MATE, its first innovative wearable exoskeleton at Automatica in Munich, the international trade fair for Automation and Mechatronics.

According to the company, MATE has been designed to improve work quality in an efficient and highly ergonomic manner by providing consistent and advanced movement assistance during repetitive as well as daily tasks. The MATE Fit for Workers exoskeleton uses a spring-based passive structure and delivers lightweight postural support without the need for batteries, motors or other devices. Comau describes MATE as being fully able to replicate any movement of the shoulder while adhering to the body like a “second skin”.

MATE is an important part in the company’s HUMANufacturing Technology strategy, a concept in which people are protagonists within the smart factory together with cutting-edge, digital tools, enabling technologies and ‘intelligent’ industrial robotics within a networked production system. MATE was designed and developed at the Comau HUMANufacturing Innovation Center in Pontedera (Pisa), Italy.

Comau says the benefits of MATE include:
• Reduction of shoulder muscle activity for some muscles of up to 50 per cent
• Users can do the same tasks with less fatigue
• Consistent, ergonomically-assisted movement support increases the quality and precision of repetitive tasks
• Users can improve their quality of work