Meet the German Bionic e-exoskeleton Apogee+ Power Suit
Recognized with this year’s CES “Best of Innovation” Award in the Wearable Technologies category, Berlin-based robotics and wearable tech specialist German Bionic is back in Las Vegas in 2024 with its latest e-exoskeleton, the Apogee+ power suit.
The device is specifically developed to provide dynamic support for healthcare professionals including frontline workers in hospitals, geriatric wards, or rehabilitation clinics. It follows the celebrated launch of its industrial counterpart, the Apogee exoskeleton, at CES 2023. With its safety-first design and human-centric approach, the Apogee+ represents the new standard for lifting and patient mobilization across diverse healthcare environments.
Both the Apogee+ for the healthcare sector and the Apogee for industrial deployments – such as in logistics, construction, and manufacturing – are available now and can be tested live in Las Vegas, January 9 to 12, 2024.
Specifically made to support caregivers during their work on the ward, the Apogee+ powered exosuit was developed based on the latest advancements in nursing care research and in close cooperation with leading healthcare institutions such as Germany’s renowned Charité Hospital in Berlin. Now, the Apogee+ will be showcased for the very first time in North America on the occasion of CES 2024.
Its innovative technology improves the safety and well-being of nursing and other care professionals, empowering them with up to 66 pounds (30 kg) of back relief per lifting movement to alleviate patient mobilization tasks such as transferring patients between beds and wheelchairs, aiding in medical examinations, facilitating washing and changing procedures, repositioning immobile patients, or assisting in assuming more comfortable or upright positions.
Caregivers also often find themselves needing to attend to patients in awkward and unergonomic forward-bending postures. In such cases, the Apogee+ gives support to the back with its counterforce mode.
Due to its very nature, nursing care involves close patient interaction. The Apogee+ strikes a perfect balance for optimal nurse-patient engagements by combining the social intelligence of humans with the power of robotic support. In terms of patient safety, the smart German Bionic exosuit is also clearly distinguished from passive exoskeleton systems that usually have exposed mechanical parts.
The Apogee+ features a unique closed design and special patient grips, ensuring full protection against pinching, crushing, and other potential physical risks. It stands as the only genuinely patient-safe device of its kind.
In a sector that is acutely grappling with the labor shortage crisis, the Apogee+ also serves as a testament to the value a care facility’s places on its workforce. This helps enhance the overall appeal of nursing as a profession, thereby significantly supporting efforts to attract and recruit both young and qualified talents as well as retaining the best, motivated employees.
“Our approach involves actively providing wearers with additional power via battery-driven robotic motors – and not just redistributing the load and energy such as is the case with passive exoskeleton systems using springs or elastic parts, which incidentally can have a tendency to wear out and become less effective over time,” says Armin G. Schmidt, CEO and founder of German Bionic. “Smart and fully connected, our family of AI-driven e-exoskeletons delivers more energy, efficiency, and all-round effectiveness, setting the standard for safer working environments and enhanced performance across all industries.”
Besides the new Apogee+ for healthcare, German Bionic will also take its award-winning exoskeleton for industry to Las Vegas in January. Launched at CES 2023, the rugged IP54-protected Apogee power suit has firmly established itself at the standard for protecting the lower back of workers in areas including logistics, warehousing, construction, maintenance, and manufacturing – or in other jobs where heavy lifting is regularly conducted.
The German Bionic exoskeletons are in daily use at global logistics companies including DPD, Dachser, or Fiege, large retailers like Canadian Tire and British CE specialist Currys as well as at several major international airports and in hospitals.
Join German Bionic January 9 to 12, 2024, at its showroom directly on the Las Vegas strip to experience first-hand the Apogee+ for healthcare and the Apogee for industry.
