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Korean wearable robots move from muscle fabric to farm work

A South Korean news compilation follows strength-assisting textiles, shoulder supports and a walking robot that docks with its wearer.

Channel: KBS News ·

South KoreaStory of November 11, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of KBS News's most watched videos since yesterday, with 455,597 views.

KBS News: The news division of KBS, South Korea's public broadcaster. 3.7M subscribers and 12B views.

[이슈] 1,500배 무게 '번쩍'…입기만 하면 '초인'/옷감 자체가 '근력'…韓 '근육옷감' 혁명/2026년 11월 9일(월)/KBS

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0:46Electrically activated coil-thread fabric weighing 10 grams supports up to 15 kilograms in a demonstration.
2:03Farmers use X-ble Shoulder wearable robots to reduce the shoulder burden of agricultural work.
4:07Wearable robots collect workers' movement data for use in training humanoid robots.
5:58ETRI presents a lightweight elastic rehabilitation suit and reports clinical-testing results.
7:50KAIST's WalkON Suit F1 introduces autonomous docking to help its wearer get into the exoskeleton.
8:50A wearer demonstrates walking without canes and performing everyday movements in the robot.

Grape grower Cho Yoon-ok describes less pain after putting on a shoulder-support robot. Her experience gives a practical purpose to a collection of Korean wearable technologies: helping people do demanding work, undergo rehabilitation or walk with assistance.

South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) News begins its compilation with a different demonstration: a piece of fabric weighing just 10 grams supporting up to 15 kilograms. The broadcaster reports that a startup originating from the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials has commercialized the technology.

Its force comes from shape-memory-alloy wires, coiled finer than a human hair and woven into fabric. Applying an electric current activates the material, providing assistance without a conventional motor or rigid frame. Researcher Park Seong-jun explains that weaving in more coil thread can increase the assistance for a particular application.

The headline promise of supporting 1,500 times its weight refers to that material demonstration, not to a person suddenly being able to lift that much more.

The report then visits farms in South Chungcheong Province using the X-ble Shoulder wearable robot to ease overhead work. Another segment explores a second use for wearable equipment: collecting workers' movement data to help train humanoid robots. Here, a machine assists a human while learning from human movement.

For rehabilitation, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute presents an elastic suit weighing less than a kilogram, built around a tensegrity structure. The segment also reports on clinical testing.

The final development is KAIST's WalkON Suit F1, an exoskeleton designed for people with lower-limb paralysis. It can dock with its wearer, reducing the difficulty of getting into the equipment. Demonstrator Kim Seung-hwan walks without canes and performs everyday movements; he describes the emotion of being reminded of steps he had forgotten. Researcher Park Jeong-su identifies a central engineering difficulty: fitting multiple actuators into a small space while keeping the robot compact.

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