Harvard Soft Exosuit (and ReStore) specs

Harvard Wyss Institute and Lifeward (USA) Harvard Soft Exosuit (and ReStore) (1)

Quote onlyThe Harvard research suits were never sold. The commercial spin-off, the Lifeward (formerly ReWalk) ReStore, is sold to clinics on quote and was reported to retail for $28,900 in the US with leasing options at its 2019 FDA clearance (Exoskeleton Report) (estimate), while the UK NICE briefing lists ~$30,900 (£22,995) excluding VAT per unit (estimate).

AvailableApp-adjustedSoft exosuit~5 kg (ReStore)FDA cleared (ReStore)DARPA Warrior Web roots

Weeks+Only the ReStore can be bought, by rehabilitation clinics through Lifeward's sales team, with therapist training included. The Harvard research suits are not for sale. Contact Lifeward ↗

Control: The ReStore is adjusted from the therapist's handheld controller app; the Harvard research suits are tuned only by the lab.

Wyss Institute project page ↗Lifeward ReStore ↗Harvard SEAS on the 2019 walk and run suit ↗Exoskeleton Report on FDA clearance ↗NICE briefing ↗

Overview

The soft exosuit is the Harvard Wyss Institute and Biodesign Lab's alternative to rigid frames, a textile suit with cables pulled by small motors at the waist, developed by Conor Walsh's group from about 2013 under DARPA's Warrior Web program to help soldiers carry heavy loads. Later versions included a 2019 hip suit of about 2.3 kg that detects the switch between walking and running and lowered the energy cost of both (Science, 2019). ReWalk Robotics licensed the technology in 2016 and turned it into the ReStore, a stroke-rehabilitation suit for the ankle that gained CE marking in May 2019 and FDA clearance on 2019-06-05 as the first soft exosuit cleared for clinics. The ReStore is still listed as a current product by Lifeward (the renamed ReWalk) alongside the ReWalk 7, is used only under a trained therapist and is not meant for stairs or sport. The research suits themselves were never sold, and rigid military designs such as the Guardian XO and ONYX took a different path.

Specifications

Category	Exoskeletons & exosuits · Full-body, military & research
Released	2013
Country	USA
Availability	Available
Programmability	No SDK, app / visual programming only
Built-in autonomy	Reactive · Responds to its surroundings without a map, such as avoiding obstacles or following a person
LLM support	None · No voice assistant or LLM.
Vision sensors	No vision sensors
Actuators	Other
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Proprietary / undisclosed
Control	App-adjusted
Weight	~2.3 kg (2019 hip research suit), ~5 kg (ReStore system)
Assistance	Waist-mounted motors pull Bowden cables anchored in textile straps to add force at the right moment of each step. The 2019 hip-extension research suit cut the metabolic cost of walking by 9.3% and running by 4%, and the ReStore version adds ankle push-off (plantarflexion) and toe-lift (dorsiflexion) help on the paretic leg of stroke patients.
Joints	Hips or ankles
Battery & runtime	Battery-powered actuation pack on the waist or lower back. The ReStore runs on two rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, runtime not published (unconfirmed).
Operation	Research suits run lab controllers that detect walking and running and time the assist automatically. The ReStore is run by a therapist from a handheld controller app over Bluetooth that sets the mode and amount of assistance and records gait assessments.
Sensors	Gyroscope and IMU sensors on the legs in the research suits; the ReStore uses an insole sensor system and calf-mounted sensors to time each step.
Compute	Not published
SDK	None for the public. The ReStore has only the therapist app.