An exoskeleton in the form of clothing.

could go unnoticed

Exoskeleton technology is currently well defined and proven to be machines that expand human strength, but in terms of their appearance, that could be changing, because researchers in Switzerland have developed artificial fibers that function like muscles and can be woven directly into clothing, as if the fabric itself had strength.

These fibers can lift up to 200 times their own weight and still remain light, silent and even washable, yes they can be put in the washing machine. The secret lies within the fibers themselves. Instead of giant motors or compressors, they use an internal system that moves fluid through electric fields, all on a millimeter scale, each fiber works as a small autonomous hydraulic system and when several are combined, the entire fabric gains the ability to generate force.

The most interesting thing is not only the power, but the shape, because this eliminates one of the biggest problems of wearable robotics, the rigidity, instead of a heavy external structure, it has something flexible, discreet and that adapts to the body. When this technology is ready, it can open space for much more real applications, clothing that helps in rehabilitation, that reduces effort in physical work or even that increases the natural strength of the user without looking like a machine and perhaps that is the most important point. Technology stops being something that immediately attracts attention and becomes part of the almost invisible clothing itself.

When this evolves, the difference between natural strength and assisted strength may begin to disappear, because for the first time it will not be necessary to use a machine to be strong, it will be enough to wear a garment, only that while some technologies are being created to integrate with the human being, others are being developed with a single, very different objective, to completely replace it, and there is a race underway to decide who will arrive first.