Robotic vest helping workers build school

A HI-TECH robotic vest that gives construction workers extra strength has been debuted at a Cardiff site.

Workers building the new Cardiff West Community High School in Ely have use of the exoskeleton vest to protect them on the development.

A first in UK construction, EksoVest is an upper body exoskeleton vest that supports a worker’s arms during heavy lifting using various adjustable springs that transfer the weight of a load.

Willmott Dixon is the construction company behind the build. Design manager Chris Townsend said: “It’s like a secondary skeletal system so anything through your body is replicated in the frame.

“As an organisation we like to focus on health and safety and the well-being of our people, and technology – and the EksoVest in our opinion ticks both boxes.

“The suit can take stress and strain away from the body which protects the worker.

“It prolongs the time they can work, it can give them an extra 10 years.”

The construction firm is the first to trial the vest, which costs £5,650, in the UK.

Chris added there were more than 100,000 injuries each year on construction sites and the firm was hoping the vest can reduce these numbers.

He said: “If this can take a fraction of that out then in our opinion it’s a good thing.”

Construction worker at the site Gavin Rees said: “The first 10 minutes it took a while to get used to, to be honest.

“But after that it’s as light as a feather. I’ve been lifting boards above my head and you just don’t feel any effort whatsoever.

“There’s no aches or pains so I can go home to the wife happy.”

The new school was chosen to trial the recently developed technology due to the range of activities required to finish the build.

Willmott Dixon teamed up with Ekso Bionics to trial the vest, which was funded by the construction firm’s Eureka research fund.