Trying an AI Exoskeleton in the Real World – Video

Speaker 1: Exoskeletons are finally stepping out of science fiction into the real world. And yes, you can buy one right now. This is the DCIS X one. It’s an exoskeleton that uses AI to learn how you walk and how you run to help you hike longer and run faster than ever. So let’s go check it out

Speaker 1: To test [00:00:30] out one of the claims. I’m going to see how much the exoskeleton actually helps me when I’m walking up a very steep hill. I’m going to do it once without the exoskeleton and the second time with the exoskeleton. Then compare the time it takes me. And of course, I had to find one of the steepest streets in San Francisco. It is so steep. They’ve even got stairs up the side, so you know it’s going to be tough. I’m not going to take that easy way out though. I’m going to go straight up this hill over 30% grade without the exoskeleton. I’m not looking forward to this. Okay, ready? Yes. 1, 2, 3.

Speaker 2: [00:01:00] Go

Speaker 1: Chat about now, but I would love a little boost. Stop. Just give me a minute. Give me a minute. That was a lot. [00:01:30] Okay. Excess skeleton on. I’m going to turn it on. Let’s see. Okay, we are in the assist mode and it’s got six different levels of assistance. So of course I’m going to crank it up to number six because why not? I don’t want to do this, but hopefully this one’s going to be easier, right? 1, 2, 3, goat doesn’t feel all that different yet, but we’ll see. [00:02:00] When I start to get tired, it’s still hard. Don’t get me wrong, this is still really not a pleasant experience, but I don’t feel as winded yet, even though I don’t feel like it’s giving me that much support. It’s just a little bit stop. Okay. I’m still pretty winded, as you can tell. Even with [00:02:30] level six assist, what is the top hill? So the X one also has a workout mode that basically resists you, so you can use it to train, but I’m going to use it to help me go down the hill. Resistance the highest level. Okay, let’s go down. I don’t feel like I’m barreling down the hill. I feel like it’s almost like I’ve got little breaks built in better than my feet.

Speaker 1: [00:03:00] All right. The results of our highly unscientific test. I wonder if it was actually any faster with the exoskeleton, without the exoskeleton. 56 seconds. Okay. Look back with the exoskeleton. Did it feel faster? It felt easier. It didn’t feel faster. 51 second. No, 51 seconds. The five seconds faster. That does not, okay. Did not feel five seconds faster. [00:03:30] That’s wild. It actually made me five seconds faster of this hill. A number of six assist. I was not expecting that at all. So it works somewhat scientifically tested, but it’s tested enough for my purposes. Yeah, that’s pretty cool. The AI assist is powered by a deep learning system trained on walking data that predicts your future joint movements one second ahead of time. Then the X one helps your leg move in the predicted direction, and you’ll feel the assistance. I’ve worn exoskeletons in the past [00:04:00] that really feel like they’re giving you a lot of different assistance in different areas of the body, but the ex one doesn’t really feel, I guess, that pronounced. It’s really quite subtle. The best analogy is if you just feel like you’re not using as much effort to get up a hill or go running, it just feels like you’re a little bit lighter rather than someone giving you a pro along.

Speaker 1: Now, the X one only weighs 1.6 kilos, so it is pretty [00:04:30] lightweight. It is not super uncomfortable to wear. It does take a little bit of time to get used to having kind of this extra weight around your waistband and on your hips, but once you’re in the middle of that workout, you don’t really notice it that much. And overall, the unit is going to give you around 25 to 30 kilometers of battery span. So that’s as long as you’re going to get on one charge. But you can swap out the battery really easily, and the claim is it can make you go as fast as 27 kilometers [00:05:00] an hour. Never run that fast in my entire life. So it’s going to be interesting to see if it can make me faster. Right now comes the speed test. I am not a fast runner by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m going to see if I can reach that 27 kilometers an hour claim. I highly, highly doubt it, but I am going to be using a speedometer on my phone as I run to see if I can go full throttle and how fast [00:05:30] I can get assist is going to be at level six. Yep. Let’s double check. We’re on level six.

Speaker 1: Yep. Level six confirmed.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Speaker 1: It’s super windy. Let’s try. Okay, ready? Full throttle. I’m going to take me a while to get there. 3, 2, 1.

Speaker 1: [00:06:00] I tick off, but is it out? That’s as fast as I got. Okay. Wow. It actually didn’t feel anywhere near as hard as running that stretch foot out would. I’m still out of breath, but it’s really [00:06:30] cool. It actually really, really felt a kick on as I was getting faster. Wow. More so than when I was walking up a hill. I’m going to go catch my breath. As much as I want to use this in a running race, I’d probably get kicked out. So the bigger applications are rehab recovery and for people who can’t use as much energy on long walks and highs, especially if you need to avoid your heart rate going over a certain threshold. One other thing to keep in mind, this is a Kickstarter project, so with any crowdfunding project, do proceed [00:07:00] with caution. But at the time of recording this video, the X one has met its funding goal.

Speaker 1: That was tough, but actually I felt really empowered when I was running and I could feel the assist really kicking on and just giving me that extra boost that I needed. That’s so hard for me to run that fast at any kind of prolonged stretch. So I’d still going to have to train a lot, but that’s the fastest I’ve probably ever run in a very, very, very long time, or thanks to [00:07:30] this guy. Unbelievable. I never felt like I was out of control with this on me. I always felt like I had the ability to stop whenever I needed to, and I absolutely did. Because you saw I could stop and it was totally fine. No, you’re on pace for a five minute mark. No, I heard what you said, but I was like, what? Five minute model. I never thought my body would be capable of doing that. I mean, obviously, yeah, you’d have to sustain that, as I said. But that’s wild. I did not think I could do that. Thanks so much [00:08:00] for watching. I hope you enjoyed this episode. As always, love to hear your thoughts and questions about the exoskeleton. Drop me a comment down below. Let me know what other wild tech products you want me to try next. See you later.