Long distance hiker here. This is not useful on the trail on two fundamental levels:
-energy is seldom the limiting factor in high mileage days. Typically it is a combination of joint pain and feet swell/bruising. A robot will simply remove some of your control over those primary factors.
- the chemical storage of energy in batteries is nowhere close to human efficiency, so you will never pay for the weight of this thing. Seriously, we drill holes in our toothbrush handle to get total base equipment weight < 8 lbs. It is only at these weights that we come close to our limits. Maybe a day hike on one battery would still have benefit, but one-shot day hikes have nothing to do with endurance hiking.
Another long distance hiker and mountaineer chiming in. I don't agree with your points, but moreover, I don't think this is intended as a hiking aid to be sold at REI. Like the article says, it could be beneficial for soldiers with very heavy loads or for rehabilitation / physical therapy. In that respect, I think this is a great, innovative medical device.
Well, soldiers carry over 10 times the weight you're carrying; the increased weight might be a bigger problem than joint and foot pain (not to mention fatigue from fighting, or being up for 2 days crossing enemy territory).
Wow, some people-not-even-worth-of-insults have downvoted your perfectly fine and informative comment. 8 lbs is not even the load of typical long-distance hiker. It's only very small minority who have those minuscule loads, and their rationale is most often than not just lifestyle choice. I have done hundreds of continuous miles with about 60 lbs many times over the years and experienced no joint problems (this is very personal thing). My feet tend to suffer most in the long run even with good boots so I typically limit the distance covered in a day to 20 miles.
In the army we made 40 miles with about 80 lbs load with basically no rest and that was tough but doable (and not even tough compared to what some other people must go through in the army). Heck, the basic assault rifle we were issued weighted that 8 lbs. That is just ridiculous load for hiking.
I honestly thought that people drilling their toothbrush handles did not actually exist. I have heard numerous times someone joking that "choosing low weight equipment or no some equipment at all can be beneficial but once you start drilling your toothbrush handles it's time to stop" implying that no-one actually drills them. I have always hiked without toothbrush (I used to forget it, nowadays I just don't bother, still having perfect tooth though).
-energy is seldom the limiting factor in high mileage days. Typically it is a combination of joint pain and feet swell/bruising. A robot will simply remove some of your control over those primary factors.
- the chemical storage of energy in batteries is nowhere close to human efficiency, so you will never pay for the weight of this thing. Seriously, we drill holes in our toothbrush handle to get total base equipment weight < 8 lbs. It is only at these weights that we come close to our limits. Maybe a day hike on one battery would still have benefit, but one-shot day hikes have nothing to do with endurance hiking.