When wearable robotic systems were first developed in the 1960s, they were anything but wearable—weighing 300 pounds and created for people to lift and carry nearly that same weight. If you’re picturing Sigourney Weaver strapping on that huge device and going mano a mano in Aliens, you’re not that far off.

Wearable robotics has come a long way since their inception, both in appearance and purpose. Moving from heavy duty haulers to the delicate intricacies of biomedicine, engineers are reshaping the traditional Hollywood image of robotics.

Arizona State University assistant professor Dr. Thomas Sugar is at the forefront of this remarkable transformation and is one of only a handful of national academic researchers to design them for stroke rehabilitation. According to the American Heart Association, an estimated 700,000 people a year suffer a new or recurrent stroke, with at least one-half of these patients afflicted with serious limb impairments. These numbers are expected to increase as the baby boom generation ages.

“If you have a stroke, you need to do physical training of the neural pathways to improve,” explains Sugar, who is the assistant director of ASU’s Integrated Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory and an assistant professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department.

In September 2003, ASU was awarded a $1.2 million three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop and market a robotic arm device that moves the shoulder, elbow and wrist one degree, with the objective of replicating a coordinated repetitive task, such as reaching and drinking.

The wearable device, which is designed for home use for a couple of hours a day, can store information on time usage and range of motion. Physical therapists will use this data to augment ongoing therapeutics for the patient. According to Sugar, these devices may help save on the some of the costs related to physical therapy rehabilitation.

Other partners in the project include Good Samaritan Hospital and Tempe-based Kinetic Muscles Inc., along with ASU bioengineering professor Dr. Jiping He and industrial design professor Donald Herring. He is developing a virtual reality system which provides biofeedback, while Herring is creating designs to be built and commercialized.

In a separate NIH Small Business Investment Research project, Sugar is working with Kinetic Muscles, Inc. to develop an ankle device to help stroke patients who have lost the use of a leg.

In Sugar’s research, an impetus has been put on compliance and safety, rather than speed and precision—a hallmark of traditional robotics. A major reason ASU has become a leader in biomedical robotics is because of the ability to develop the most economical devices. Typically, these devices can be rented for $200 to $300 a month and are used for five to six months. This is especially important given the lifetime costs of a stroke can exceed $140,000, according to the CDC and the National Center for Health Statistics.

These robotic devices will not only help stroke victims, but those with spinal cord injuries and patients who need muscle assistance.

“There’s going to be a huge market for wearable robotic systems that are human friendly,” Sugar believes. “Just like you saw personal computers take off, you’re going to see robotic systems take off.”