What do we think of when we think of wearable devices? Apple Watch, Xiaomi bracelet, and even the recently launched Samsung ring,But Skip, a company, has created a new type of wearable device: trousers exoskeleton - MO/GO.
Image source: Skip
Maybe you haven’t heard of the company Skip, butIts team was born out of Alphabet, a giant in the technology industry, and this time MO/GO’s clothing design came from Arc’teryx, a giant in the outdoor industry.
MO/GO was born with the title of "the world's first powered clothing", started pre-ordering at the beginning of this week, and you can also enjoy the "early bird price" of US$4,500 (approximately 33,000 yuan) per piece if you order now. This selling price is obviously a bit beyond ordinary people’s imagination.Therefore, MO/GO has also launched an 8-hour rental service, priced at US$80 (approximately 600 yuan) per time..
If you can’t afford it, you can rent one for fun｜Image source: Skip
However, what is even more unimaginable than the selling price is that those who participate in the pre-sale now will not be able to ship until October next year, and the first two batches of MO/GO have been booked within a week.
The summary is: Google makes the skeleton, Arc'teryx makes the clothing, a pair of pants costs more than 30,000 yuan, and you have to wait a year for delivery, so it's actually sold out?
What kind of pants are MO/GO?
What is a power suit?
Before understanding MO/GO, you must first understand what a power suit is.
In the famous game "Fallout" series, the equipment that many players dream of is powered armor. Wearing it can run fast, jump high, and punch monsters without pain or fatigue. Power suits also have the same effect.
Power suits, powered exoskeletons, and mechanical exoskeletons are essentially the same. They are a type of equipment that can be worn on the human body and can enhance the strength of human limb structures, sports power, and endurance..
In other words, wearing it can greatly improve people's athletic ability, and everyone can win the Olympic all-around championship in track and field.
Power suits have long been widely used in military fieldsIn 1960, the General Electric Company of the United States developed the first human exoskeleton powered suit, the Hardiman. Wearing the Hardiman, it was as easy to lift a 150-kilogram object as it was to lift a 6-kilogram object. However, the Hardiman itself weighed 680 kilograms, making it more difficult to put on and take off than a space suit.
General Electric’s exoskeleton power suit Hardiman may have inspired the power armor of “Fallout” | Image source: General Electric
Nowadays, power suits have long been lightweight and are more widely used, but they are limited to specialized and industrial fields, such as rescue and disaster relief in high-altitude areas, or worn on elderly porters to reduce the physical burden.
A power suit that fits the stereotype | Image source: Wikiwand
However, the lightweight power suit does not look like normal clothes. It either looks like an agent or a robot when worn. Moreover, it is not sold to the mass market, and it is difficult for ordinary people to buy it if they have money. Therefore, MO/GO brushed aside the concept and gave itself the title of "the world's first powered clothing (clothing)".
Back to these cool pants, MO/GO is the abbreviation of "mountaingoat (Rocky goat)", the characteristic of the Rocky Goat is that it can climb steadily on very steep rocks and keep a brisk pace on high mountains.
The entire MO/GO trousers are not only windproof but also wind-resistant. They are based on Arc'teryx's soft and breathable soft-shell pants GammaPant. A carbon fiber exoskeleton structure weighing less than 900 grams is stuffed into the trouser legs. The skeleton has a built-in electric motor to provide power to the wearer.The wearer can choose to have the exoskeleton stuffed into both trouser legs, or wear it on one leg.
Take a look at what MO/GO looks like | Image source: Skip/Arc'teryx
Skip’s slogan is “Move More with Power”. According to Skip’s description, MO/GO can provide 40% assistance to the wearer’s quadriceps and hamstrings when climbing, and reduce the burden on the wearer’s knees when going downhill.Daily activities will make the wearer feel 27 pounds lighter, achieving the illusion of "body as light as a swallow".
The core of MO/GO is the upper exoskeleton, which can be easily disassembled. After removal, MO/GO becomes a pair of Arc'teryx soft-shell pants. Without removing it, you can also adjust the switch and power mode through buttons, so it needs battery power like other digital products. In the maximum assist mode, the continuous uphill endurance can reach 3 hours.It can automatically charge like a tram when going downhill. Even if the battery runs out of power halfway up the mountain, there is a spare battery bag sewn into the waistband of the MO/GO pants..
MO/GO even has an app,Skip said it can analyze the wearer's cadence and gait, and then use artificial intelligence algorithms to allow the exoskeleton to "recognize the legs" to achieve power adaptation.
This 3kg large battery is really not covered | Image source: Skip
But MO/GO was not so popular at the beginning. It was not so elegant before, and it was also a creative project abandoned by Alphabet.
Clothes and Algorithms
In 2021, MO/GO is still at the stage of a mechanical skeleton, and Skip is not yet a company, but a project developed internally by Alphabet’s X laboratory.X Lab is a department of Alphabet that focuses on developing high-risk, high-return cutting-edge technology projects.
“MO/GO” in 2021｜Image source: AlphabetX
At that time, this product was not called MO/GO, but SmartyPants., the product was inspired by Zealand, the founder of Skip, who wanted to solve the problem of mobility issues of his 92-year-old grandmother.
SmartyPants has already seen the prototype of today's MO/GO. At that time, the development team included clothing designers and deep learning experts. The design department was responsible for stuffing the exoskeleton into the pants so that the product could be worn, and the technical department studied how the sensor could predict the wearer's power changes.
This is what makes SmartyPants valued by AlphabetX: it has the potential to be oriented to the mass market, and it also incorporates artificial intelligence algorithms that other power suits do not have.
However, between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, Alphabet began to lay off employees, and the X department was also greatly affected by continued losses. Therefore, project leader Kathryn Zealand led the team to become independent from AlphabetX and established Skip.
Would it be cheaper if it wasn't co-branded with Arc'teryx? ｜Image source: Skip
After the exoskeleton was developed, Skip began looking for pants that could carry it, and finally chose Arc'teryx because it was the only one on the market that met all of Skip's clothing requirements and could perfectly fit into the intersection between clothing design and function.
MO/GO is also the first product developed by the Skip team.Their ambition is to create a series of consumer-grade wearable assistance products, which they call "Movewear", that is, integrating exoskeleton technology into consumer-grade clothing., creating power suits that are both technological and comfortable, allowing anyone to move briskly.
Skip’s official website states the team’s vision:“Leave no one behind”, on the product page of MO/GO, there is also experience feedback from the first batch of internal beta users:
Natalie, 43, said, "I feel like I'm 20 years old again."; Peter, 71, said, "I can't even remember the last time my knees worked so well."; Tracy, 63, said, "This is the first time I've climbed this mountain in more than 20 years."
A pair of cool pants costing more than 30,000 yuan looks more unattainable than mountains.But this is a big step for power suits and the first step into the consumer market.
It took 64 years to go from a 680kg Hardiman to a 1kg MO/GO.
Perhaps more than ten years from now, humans will be able to put on power suits as cheaply and simply as wearing a helmet, and climb higher and go further with a brisk pace.