Imagine, people with disabilities, after being told they may never walk again, find they can not only walk, but also cover a mile in an hour.

Or, a worker with a physically demanding job who lifts and carries loads of weight every day can wear a suit that does the bulk of the lifting for them. Consider the corresponding change in productivity and morale!

With AI, these scenarios are a reality.

Human Exoskeletons and Where They are Applicable

One robotic exoskeleton, SuitX, has the technology that allows users with lower-body disabilities to cover a mile in an hour. This suit is lightweight, controlled by motors at the hips and knees that move the foot supports. The user wears a backpack battery that will last up to eight hours, and controls the suit with buttons placed on crutches.

A man walks with the help of the Phoenix exoskeleton developed by SuitX. (Source: Instagram)

Another exoskeleton, the ReWalk, is commercially available in the United States. It is strapped onto the user’s body over his or her clothing, again using electric motors for power. Sensors assist in movement, which the user controls through a wrist-worn communicator.

Claire L.uses a ReWalk exoskeleton to complete a race (Source: ReWalk)

Similar technology can be used for exoskeletons in an industrial or military application. Workers and soldiers can wear human exoskeletons to gain an instant boost in strength and stamina, lifting far more than they could heft without the robotic help.

The Application of AI

Alexa, Amazon’s artificial intelligence (AI), is practically a member of the family in many households, especially across the U.S. Alexa stocks up on pantry essentials, shares the latest news, gives weather updates and even plays games. But now, she’s stepping into an all-new role that will truly transform people’s lives, beyond household assistance.

Bionik Laboratories has integrated Alexa to its lower-body exoskeleton. This means that to move, users can simply issue a voice command like, “Alexa, take a step.”

ARKE Exoskeleton by Bionik Laboratories (Source: Bionik Laboratories)

Adding AI to exoskeleton controls can potentially help users become familiar with the device. Users may face a steep learning curve with sensors, communicators, and putting it all together to move with an exoskeleton. With the application of AI, however, voice commands get the process started more seamlessly, until users are confident to take over control without Alexa’s help.

While AI-controlled exoskeletons are still in the early stages of testing, the concept holds a lot of promise for enabling greater independence for people who need mobility assistance.

Comparing Exoskeleton Materials

While exoskeletons might seem futuristic, it does not mean that they are made from futuristic alloys and newly invented materials.

Manufacturers are looking for several things from an exoskeleton material: strength, durability and cost effectiveness. Whether AI-assisted or not, exoskeletons are made from a variety of traditionally used materials; typically, carbon, aluminum, or steel.

Some manufacturers may choose carbon for lightweight parts, as this material is not as hefty as steel or aluminum. Steel is the heaviest of all of those materials, but with a powered exoskeleton, the weight may not matter as much, as the machine will be lifting itself.

Aluminum is durable, but not as resistant to damage as steel. Being an inexpensive material, aluminum might seem attractive to manufacturers at first, but that lower price tag comes with a diminished lifetime in comparison to steel.

Carbon is about as damage-resistant as aluminum, but holds less stiffness against weight. Carbon is also generally brittle, so if it faces damage, it may crack and completely break, rather than denting (or being unaffected). High-end carbon can be expensive, potentially driving up the cost of an exoskeleton made with this material.

Different types of exoskeletons (Source: Wired)

Steel, therefore, is very popular for creating exoskeletons and their parts. It provides raw strength and durability. It stands up to many kinds of damage with ease. It bends or dents instead of breaking, and can typically be repaired, even numerous times, without reaching the full point of failure.

Steel lasts, despite wear and tear. This robust material is ideal for limb elements like arms and legs, which will be doing a lot of moving and lifting. Steel will enable extremely heavy lifting of objects many times the weight that an unpowered human could lift.

Like exoskeleton technology, steel technology is evolving. Lighter weight steel materials are coming onto the market, offering all of the benefits that steel has traditionally offered, with less heft.

Whether manufacturers choose steel for every part of an exoskeleton, or select this high-quality material for some important elements of the technology, it is clear that steel has a role in exoskeletons, now and in the future.

Cover photo courtesy of New Atlas.

Building the ISS

Beginning in 1998, the ISS was constructed on ground piece-by-piece, then transported and assembled over the course of 12 years, 40 missions and 80 launches. With a partnership between European countries (represented as ESA), the United States (NASA), Japan (JAXA), Canada (CSA) and Russia (Roscosmos), the ISS has become the world’s largest international cooperative program in the fields of science and technology.

The concept of a space station had been imagined in several different ways prior to the actual ISS initiative. Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke created a centrifugal, wheel-shaped space station in their science fiction classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Star Trek series, originally created by Gene Roddenberry in 1969, also featured various renditions of what a futuristic space station might look like, including the sleek Vanguard Station.

However, given our current technological and astrophysical capabilities, the ISS was built with functionality and sturdiness as top priorities.

The ISS’s main compartments were completed in 2011, amassing a total weight of over 420,000 kilograms, and the station itself is approximately the size of a North American football field.

When constructing the ISS, engineers relied on materials like titanium, Kevlar, high-grade steel and lightweight aluminum to make the structure as light and puncture-resistant as possible.

“This shell must also provide protection from impacts by tiny meteoroids and man-made debris,” states NASA on their website. “To ensure the safety of the crew, the Space Station wears a bullet-proof vest. Layers of Kevlar, ceramic fabrics and other advanced materials form a blanket up to 10 centimeters thick around each module’s aluminum shell.”

With weight being a major factor in getting each component into orbit, the modules were built using more lightweight aluminum than steel for the outer shells so that the space shuttles could hold the weight of the units in their cargo bays during launches.

Steering the Space Station with Steel

The ISS orbit is prograde, meaning it moves in the direction of Earth’s rotation. For the ISS to soar in a path that covers 90 percent of Earth’s population, the Station flies at an inclination of 51.6 degrees, which is easier to maintain and requires less fuel.

Directional corrections are needed to maintain the proper trajectory path, and rely on Control Moment Gyroscopes to do so. Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) consist of spinning rotors and motorized stabilizing mechanisms, called gimbals, that tilt in an angular momentum. This momentum causes the gyroscopic torque that rotates the spacecraft when necessary.

The ISS relies on four CMGs that each contain a 100-kilogram solid steel wheel to rotate the Space Station to keep it on course or to adjust positioning for incoming payloads.

Every Detail Matters

Imagine the ISS as a five-bedroom home floating somewhere between 370 and 460 kilometers above Earth with up to six full-time crewmembers on board at any given time.

Although the ISS required more than just wood and sheetrock to be built, details like plumbing had to be carefully engineered to ensure safety and sanitation throughout the laboratories and living quarters. A complex network of tubes, pipes and ducts between the station’s outer skin and inner walls had to be built so that water and other liquids could safely flow in the weightless environment of space.

“Like veins and arteries in the human body, the Station’s plumbing circulates vital liquids and gases that keep the crew and the ISS itself in good health,” NASA notes. “And this collective network of tubing and hardware, which is far more elaborate than that of the typical house must be compact, lightweight, corrosion-resistant, leak-resistant, microbe-resistant and highly dependable.”

To meet this extremely high standard, the pipes in the ISS are made from titanium, stainless steel or Teflon wrapped in metal mesh.

Planning for Future Explorations

The main purpose of the ISS is to conduct research and various studies to give us a better understanding of the environmental challenges of outer space. By knowing what to expect through long-term, human-based trials and biological experiments, the possibility of traveling further into space to places like Mars becomes a closer reality.

Just like the Space Station, these missions will require careful planning and vehicles that can withstand whatever space might throw their way. Materials like titanium, lightweight aluminum and high-grade steel will most likely be relied upon to enable such missions and transport brave astronauts to worlds yet explored.

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For this envisioned high-tech future to become a reality, however, civilizations must first study how we can help our planet sustain life for a longer period of time. After all, if we strip away all the natural resources and destroy the earth’s ecosystem, there will not be a place for humanity to reside, let alone advance its technology.

With many scientific theories stating that the earth will one day become uninhabitable, it is crucial to make as many preservation efforts as possible.

Why “Sustainability” is an Important Concept

Though sustainability has numerous definitions, when discussing the future, the term most often refers to maintaining the planet so that upcoming generations can utilize it.

According to the resolution of the UN’s World Summit on Social Development, the three pillars of sustainable development—economic development, social development and environmental protection—should be interdependent and mutually reinforce one another. These three components can exist only if there is a balance among them. For example, there is no need for a commercial fishing industry if there isn’t an ocean.

In other words, it is crucial to utilize sustainable materials that help reduce our ecological footprint to meet the needs of the environmental pillar of sustainability. Stainless steel is one such material, thanks to its closed-loop production and reuse system.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Stainless steel is a commonly used metal alloy known for its corrosion resistance and recyclability. Its various types and metallic compositions also make it useful in many industries such as construction, healthcare, food and beverage and household products, among others, serving widely applicable purposes. Its ubiquitous usage helps play an important role in creating a sustainable future.

As a readily available and relatively durable resource, stainless steel is not only ideal for manufacturing many different goods and architectural components, but is also environmentally friendly. Though stainless steel has a long lifespan to begin with, it is theoretically 100 percent recyclable, even at the end of its life cycle. Just about any stainless steel object contains an average recycled content of approximately 60 percent!

Because of its high reuse and recycle rate, stainless steel impacts the planet very minimally in terms of initial production and reproduction. In fact, recycled stainless steel doesn’t go through any degradation and stays in a sustainable, closed-loop.

Perhaps in the future, we will all eat food that is stored in stainless steel refrigerators with stainless steel spoons, in skyscrapers built with stainless steel.

Live Long and Prosper

To truly “live long and prosper” (in the famous words of Spock), we must devise a viable plan to develop a sustainable future for both present and next generations. To do so, humans must utilize existing resources such as stainless steel in the least detrimental way possible.

Although common use of starships like the Enterprise might be a bit more futuristic than what the creators of the Star Trek series originally imagined, there is definitely hope for significant technical developments to be made in due time. As long as our planet survives, that is.

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Steel has been used for some 3,800 years and has played a significant role in civilization throughout the history of mankind. From its use in the ancient weapons and hand tools of Rome and India, to the bridges and modern architectural marvels of today, the metal has been utilized in just about every conceivable way and it is seemingly impossible to imagine a world without it.

Unsurprisingly, as times have changed, so has the way we use steel. Not only has it been a practical material of function, but it has evolved into one of form, too, as a medium of art that transcends eras of historical metal relics to modern design. Nevertheless, many ancient steel artifacts, such as Damascus steel swords or Buddhist sculptures, for example, can be considered works of art themselves; the level of detail and quality of craftsmanship demonstrated in such pieces are spectacular, especially taking into account that they were created without the use of modern technology.

Today, sculpting steel is a form of artistry unlike any other and, in the hands of the right person, the durable, malleable material is capable of being transformed into just about anything the imagination can fathom.

An Artistic Metamorphosis

Contemporary artists of the 1900s continued to expand steel’s boundaries as a medium of art. American artist Alexander Calder changed the course of modern art by developing a pioneering technique to sculpt and twist wire into poetic, abstract shapes to create three-dimensional mobiles that hang in uncanny, perfect balance. Later on in his career, Calder devoted himself to making outdoor monumental sculptures in bolted sheet steel that continue to adorn public plazas across the world. Similarly, Richard Serra, often hailed as the world’s “greatest living sculptor”, also incorporated unconventional, industrial materials to accentuate the physical properties of art in the 1960s. His works, which are primarily large-scale and site-specific that engage with a particular urban or landscape setting, have become known all around the globe and have been the inspiration behind the designs of everything from electronics to fashion.

A Journey through the Art of Steel

Perhaps nowhere is this evolution from function to form more clear than at the POSCO Art Museum in Seoul, South Korea, which, to mark the foundation’s 20^th anniversary, is hosting an exhibition entitled Cheori Cheolcheol: From the Four Devas to Robot Taekwon V until July 7 (after which it will be held at the Pohang POSCO Gallery from July 17 to August 13).

The exhibition, which displays statues, handicrafts and furniture, among other works, from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) to modern times, aims to illustrate the past, the present and the future of steel in our everyday lives.

Upon arrival, visitors are greeted by “Robot Taekwon V”, a sculpture inspired by an animated superhero robot of the same name popular in the 1970s, by Kim Taek-ki, a young artist who has been in the spotlight for his creative ideas.

Another highlight is “Yeongi”, an extraordinary landscape piece by Seungmo Park. In his Maya series (“illusion” in Sanskrit), of which the work is a part of, Park sketches and cuts two-dimensional contours on stainless steel mesh to create a type of three-dimensionality, which alters the appearance of the works depending on the angles from which they are viewed.

Each of the pieces on display at the POSCO Art Museum allows visitors to experience the diverse and sometimes contradicting aspects of steel, which are both strong and soft, and cold and hot.

By taking a look at the ancient artifacts of the distant past, as well as the futuristic works of contemporary times, it is clear that not only has steel been used for more than a thousand years in daily life, but it has also breathed life into the passion of artists throughout time.

Despite the 2012 economic slowdown, POSCO excelled at our performance

Last year’s business performance recorded as following, in regards to the previous year’s standard. The total sale was 7.7% lowered (from the standard), marking 63,604 billion won, and our operating profit decreased by 33.2%, reaching 3,653 billion won.

Due to the unprecedented economic meltdown and oversupply, product prices dropped about 100,000 WON per ton. Looking at POSCO exclusively, our sales and profit each decreased 9% and 35.6%, marking 35,665 billion won, 2,790 billion won, collectively.

To overcome this aggravated globally worsened economy, POSCO put strong efforts to maximize and strengthen its marketing capacity to the fullest at all our locations around the world. By creating and propelling our new demand development, POSCO had crude-steel output of 37,990,000 ton, with 35,050,000 tons of sales volume, breaking all our previous records.

This was a never-seen-before achievement that POSCO is proud and grateful for, and it would’ve been impossible without our responsible employees. POSCO, along with all our subsidiaries and corporates around the world, worked our best to overcome the economic crisis as a unified team. We expanded our sales on high-value products, and reduced the production cost enterprise, and invested continuously for long-term future growth. The result, POSCO marked the highest and the best within the international steel community with business profit of 7.8%.

Reduction in production cost with High-Value Products

Last year, the sales rate of automotive steel and power-structural steel—two of the most popular high-value products of POSCO—recorded an increase of 3.4%, 9.3%, resulting in 7,360,000 ton and 2,700,000 ton, collectively. With this impact, the sales proportion of World First and Best products have boosted from 16.9% to 17.1%. What’s more, POSCO developed all new 128 products, which is a big change and a positive growth, compared to only 46 products created the previous year. POSCO’s automotive steels are now available for all Japanese automobile industries, who demand only the products have the world’s best quality.

Furthermore, POSCO put all our employees to actually be involved in projects for reducing the production cost as participants. As a result, POSCO was able to abridge 1,300 billion won. Also, POSCO was able to strengthen our financial soundness by achieving the 6.6% reduced debt ratio at 33.6% today, with the increased equity ratio at 74.9%.

Following this remarkable sequence, the R&D investment accumulated an additional 2.6% at 580 billion won, enabling the continuous expenditure for developing new technologies and products.

Along with our stable growth in the steel industry, POSCO began to show our potentials and achievements in activities concerning energy and materials business. POSCO reached sales of 2,881 billion won and profit of 267 billion won in the area of developing energy sources, with marking sales of 3,568 billion won and profit of 166 billion won in materials business. Also, with the active contracting enterprise, POSCO recorded 9,726 billion won sales and 339 billion won profit in the E&C sector.

“Qualitative Growth of Consolidation of Profitability Foundation”

POSCO expects that international competition for survival amongst corporations will be at its highest this year. Therefore, in 2013, revolutionary-management is extremely crucial, to secure development and market for one’s exclusive technology. Hence, POSCO plans to transform the international economic crisis into an opportunity to stably obtain profitability and growth development by practicing “value-management.” This year, POSCO’s economic activities will focus on what’s called the “Qualitative Growth of Consolidation of Profitability Foundation.”

To achieve the following, POSCO will strictly continue and push for the “subsidiary-spatial operation reconstruction”, which began last year. The operation aims to maximize our synergy capacity by reorganizing steel, energy, various raw materials as our firm divisional structures. Currently, the steel department is experiencing steady growth in China due to the increase of steel prices after inventory adjustments and demand recovery. Also, POSCO set a new agenda to improve the natural competitiveness of steel itself as a raw material, since there is a high probability of an increased international demand for steel by about 3%.

Furthermore, by successfully completing the Indonesian integrated mill and third Finex steel mill, POSCO decided to further secure our grounds for global production system. POSCO also plans to actively seek research in high-value products that encompass leading-edge technologies. This year again, POSCO propels to reduce 763 billion won in production cost with the previous executive staff who were involved in the process last year. We also expect a profit of more than 300 billion won in the following 20 years’ annual average. Such success is highly possible due to “Myanmar Gas-Field Project,” which is currently operating with the official rate of 92% and the commercial production will start this May.

Moreover, POSCO plans to strengthen our futuristic business portfolio that understands both profitability and growth possibility in the company’s infrastructures and trade relations by increasing our crude-steel capacity to 48,000,000 ton until 2015(40,000,000 ton in 2012), ability for advancing facilities to 4,474MW (3,284MW in 2012), and material sales to 8,200 billion won (5,500 billion won in 2012).
On another note, POSCO set 7,000 to 8,000 billion won as our investment key within the ability range of cash profit in this year, under a strict principle that considers both the enhancement of competitiveness and securement of growth potential.

Through all the above enterprise, POSCO established our sales goal as 66,000 billion won in consolidated earnings and 32,000 billion won as parent earnings, along with 37,000,000 ton of crude-steel production and product sales amount of 34,000,000 ton in 2013.

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UPCOMING CEO FORUM AT NEW YORK CITY

Date: Feb 21, 2013

Location : Four Seasons Hotel, New York

Agenda: 2012 Operating Performance & 2013 Business Plan announcement

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