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Exosuits and head-mounted tablets among the non-vehicles at the North American International Auto Show

Posted at 5:43 PM, Sep 14, 2023
and last updated 2023-09-14 18:10:13-04

DETROIT — Thursday at the Detroit Auto Show is all about the future of technology.

The AutoMobili-D showcase is bigger than ever this year featuring 150 start-ups including HeroWear.

CEO Mark Harris showed up their HeroWear exosuit which he said, "weighs about 2 1/2 pounds."

Harris said the suit is designed to reduce common back injuries for workers lifting all day and can, "offload about 40% of the load off low back muscles."

HeroWear is one of the many exhibitors with a product focused on making auto-workers' jobs safer and easier.

Our team also checked out Dark Star Vision which is showcasing ski goggles, motorcycle helmets, and visors that help users identify objects and colors in the dark.

Safety is key, right?" said Dark Star Vision event coordinator Shannon Wallace. "If we can’t see it, we can’t know it’s there."

Another wearable technology new to AutoMobili-D this year is RealWear.

They are showcasing a head-mounted tablet where you can take pictures, go through files, and take video calls all hands-free.

Account Executive of RealWear, Mike Pharr said, "It can help auto-workers by making them more effective, it can pull up resources that they might normally need and be hands-free."

There are also 53 mobility and technology displays inside AutoMobili-D.

You'll see automated cars and drones at the next level.

Ryan Atkinson is a junior at MSU and a DRIFT engineer.

He showed us their DRIFT drone that is already delivering packages in East Lansing, "The idea is to hitchhike city buses to help deliver packages and when this drone reaches a point on the route, on the bus, that is closest to a home, it will take off and then deliver the package."

Fellow junior and DRIFT engineer Jake Lucas added, Especially as batteries get better, we can extend these flight times where you can deliver a package several miles away without any human interaction."

The future of technology is all around you in AutoMobili-D this year.

Take a second and look around while you're there.

What's on the showroom floor today, may be at your doorstep tomorrow.