Soft exosuits

Also known as Soft robotic exosuits, Soft exo-suits, Textile exosuits, Wearable soft robots for walking

Soft exosuits are light, textile-based wearable robots that use cables and motors to add force to the hip or ankle while a person walks. Lab studies show small immediate gains in walking efficiency and symmetry, and one soft exosuit system has reported FDA clearance for sale to stroke rehabilitation centres, but long-term clinical benefit is not yet well established.

Pilot and early commercialDemonstratedReviewed 21 Oct 2026
AI illustration · Illustrative scene, not a photograph of the specific device or experiment.

In plain language

A soft exosuit is a wearable robot made from fabric, straps and thin cables rather than a rigid metal frame. Motors pull on the cables, which run along the leg, so the suit can help the wearer push off the ground or lift the foot while walking. The aim is to make walking easier for people whose muscles are weak or whose walking has become slow and tiring, such as some stroke survivors.

Researchers at Harvard's Wyss Institute have tested these suits in the lab for several years. In a small 2017 study of people who had had a stroke, the suit made walking more even between the two legs and increased push-off on the affected side. A 2019 study tested a portable hip suit during walking and running and found that it lowered the energy the body needed for each. In 2019 ReWalk Robotics announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had cleared a commercial soft exosuit for sale to stroke rehabilitation centres, but the evidence on how much it helps patients over time is still limited.

Technical explanation

Most soft exosuits route force from motor-driven cables through textile bands to the wearer's limb, so the structure carries load along the body rather than on a rigid frame. Control systems use sensors to detect where the wearer is in the stride and time the assistance to match it.

The main outcome measures in the peer-reviewed studies are immediate changes in gait and metabolic cost, measured in the lab. Awad and colleagues (2017) reported in a study of patients after stroke that the soft exosuit immediately improved walking, including forward push-off, and reduced walking asymmetry. Kim and colleagues (2019) reported that a portable hip-extension suit reduced the metabolic rate by 9.3 per cent for treadmill walking at 1.5 metres per second and by 4.0 per cent for running at 2.5 metres per second. Sloot and colleagues (2023) tested 19 people with chronic stroke-related hemiparesis during five minutes of overground walking and reported improved swing ground clearance and push-off propulsion, with effort, stability and energy cost not worsening; the gains depended on walking ability.

FDA clearance is a regulatory decision, not a measure of clinical effect. According to ReWalk Robotics' announcement, the ReStore soft exo-suit was cleared as a 510(k) device for sale to rehabilitation centres, for use in treating stroke survivors with mobility challenges, based on a multi-centre clinical study. The FDA clearance letter and the full trial results were not reviewed for this profile, so the company's clinical claims for the commercial system are treated as company-reported and no figures from them are cited.

What the evidence says

Each statement is typed by the strength of its evidence and linked to the source that supports it.

Demonstrated Shown in a published experiment, test or shipping product.

A portable hip-extension exosuit reduced the metabolic rate by 9.3 per cent for treadmill walking at 1.5 metres per second and by 4.0 per cent for running at 2.5 metres per second.

Sources: [2] · Abstract

The suit described by Kim and colleagues changes its actuation profile between walking and running, based on estimated fluctuations in the wearer's centre-of-mass potential energy.

Sources: [2] · Abstract

In 19 people with chronic stroke-related hemiparesis, a portable soft ankle exosuit improved swing ground clearance and push-off propulsion during five minutes of overground walking, and effort, stability and energy cost did not worsen.

Sources: [3] · Abstract · medium confidence

In the 2023 study, slower walkers gained propulsion and walking speed with the exosuit, while faster walkers did not change their propulsion.

Sources: [3] · Abstract · medium confidence

Reported, unverified Stated by a company or team but not independently confirmed.

ReWalk Robotics announced that the FDA had cleared its ReStore soft exo-suit for sale to rehabilitation centres in the United States, for use in treating stroke survivors with mobility challenges.

Sources: [4], [5] · medium confidence

ReWalk Robotics describes the ReStore as the only soft exo-suit with FDA clearance; this is the company's own claim.

Sources: [4] · low confidence

Limitations and open problems

  • The peer-reviewed lab studies are small and mostly test effects over a single session, so they do not show whether walking improves over weeks or months of use (Awad and colleagues, 2017; Sloot and colleagues, 2023).
  • Metabolic gains are modest and depend on the task: the 2019 hip suit reduced the metabolic rate by 9.3 per cent for walking at 1.5 metres per second and by 4.0 per cent for running at 2.5 metres per second (Kim and colleagues, 2019).
  • Benefit depends on the wearer. In the 2023 study, slower walkers gained most and faster walkers showed no change in propulsion (Sloot and colleagues, 2023).
  • Evidence for the FDA-cleared commercial system comes largely from company announcements and trade coverage; the full results of its multi-centre trial were not reviewed for this profile (ReWalk Robotics, 2019; NeurologyLive, 2019).
  • The FDA clearance covers sale to rehabilitation centres, not home use or other patient groups, and the sources reviewed here do not describe use beyond that setting.
  • The cost of the commercial system is a barrier: a launch price of $28,900 was reported at clearance (NeurologyLive, 2019).

Possible future uses

Speculative

Ideas, not predictions. None of these has been demonstrated.

  • Daily walking support for older adults with reduced leg strength, a group the reviewed studies did not test.
  • Assistance for walking and running in people who carry heavy loads, such as hikers or workers, building on the energy-cost results for walking and running.
  • Gait support for people with neurological conditions other than stroke, such as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease, which would need separate trials.

Product concepts: Robotic exosuit for stroke rehabilitation

Timeline

  1. 1 Jul 2017Awad and colleagues publish in Science Translational Medicine a study reporting that a soft exosuit improved walking in patients after stroke in lab tests. Sources: [1]
  2. 4 Jun 2019ReWalk Robotics announces FDA clearance of its ReStore soft exo-suit for sale to rehabilitation centres in the United States. Sources: [4], [5]
  3. Aug 2019Kim and colleagues publish in Science that a portable hip exosuit reduces the metabolic rate of walking and running. Sources: [2]
  4. 1 Sept 2023Sloot and colleagues publish in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation that exosuit gains in overground walking depend on the wearer's walking ability. Sources: [3]

Futures this could help bring about

AI illustration
How far away?

Soft suits that make walking easier

Pilots · 4 of 8 steps done

Related breakthroughs

Glossary

Exosuit
A wearable device that adds force to the body's movements, usually with motors and cables, and in soft versions with textile bands rather than a rigid frame.
Metabolic rate
How much energy the body uses per unit of time; lower values for the same activity mean the activity costs less effort.
Hemiparesis
Weakness on one side of the body, which can follow a stroke and affects walking.
510(k) clearance
A US FDA route for medical devices that can show they are substantially equivalent to a device already on the market; it is not the same as full approval based on clinical trials.

Sources

  1. peer reviewed paper
    A soft robotic exosuit improves walking in patients after stroke
    L. N. Awad, J. Bae, K. O'Donnell et al.. Science Translational Medicine, 1 Jul 2017. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aai9084. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
  2. peer reviewed paper
    Reducing the metabolic rate of walking and running with a versatile, portable exosuit
    J. Kim, G. Lee, R. Heimgartner et al.. Science, 1 Aug 2019. DOI: 10.1126/science.aav7536. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
  3. peer reviewed paper
    Effects of a soft robotic exosuit on the quality and speed of overground walking depends on walking ability after stroke
    L. H. Sloot, L. M. Baker, J. Bae et al.. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 1 Sept 2023. DOI: 10.1186/s12984-023-01231-7. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
  4. company announcement
    FDA Issues Clearance for the ReStore Exo-Suit, the First Soft Robotic System for Stroke Therapy
    ReWalk Robotics (press release, reposted by BioSpace), 4 Jun 2019. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
  5. news
    FDA Clears ReStore Exosuit for Stroke Rehabilitation
    Alicia Bigica. NeurologyLive, 5 Jun 2019. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.

Revision history

3 changes since this profile was created.

Changes on 21 Oct 2026
Published on owner instruction (content loop iteration 7)fd22377
Sources and claims re-checked against originalsfbb434c
Initial profile drafted from primary sources7e66249