A soft TUM exosuit helps adults aged 69 to 85 stand and walk

A team at the Technical University of Munich reported a soft exosuit for older adults on 28 September 2026. It assists hip extension, the movement that lifts the body out of a chair and pushes it forward when walking. The work, by Xiaohui Zhang and Lorenzo Masia of TUM’s Chair of Intelligent Bio-Robotic Systems, is published in Nature Communications.

The suit is worn over ordinary clothes: two thigh straps, a waist belt, and artificial tendons pulled by a small motor carried on the back. Thigh sensors track the legs, and a machine-learning controller decides in real time when to add force.

Ten adults aged 69 to 85 with reduced lower-limb function tested it. With assistance, they completed about two more sit-to-stand cycles per minute on average, up to four more for some, and single cycles took up to 21.9% less time. Walking cost 14% less metabolic energy on average, and 27.5% less at best. Participants rated their sense of autonomy above 6 on a 7-point scale.

This is a feasibility study of ten people, not a clinical trial. What it measures is whether a garment rather than a rigid frame can give back the effort of standing up. TUM says the suit is meant both for older adults who want to stay independent and for people in rehabilitation.