For all of history, human beings have yearned to be faster, stronger, and have more endurance. We’ve created fictional superheroes who can do it all. But now technology is available to help you have some superpowers without the magic.

Festool has introduced its ExoActive exoskeleton that focuses on boosting your arms to enable you to lift more for longer periods and especially work safer and more comfortably in awkward overhead situations. I was anxious to try it out.

 

What it is
The Festool ExoActive system is something you wear like a 19-pound backpack. It attaches to your upper arms and gives you up to an 11-pound boost to help you lift things or hold things higher for longer.

The backpack part of the unit holds a compressor powered by standard Festool 18-volt batteries. A controller that hangs on a shoulder strap like a police walkie-talkie mic allows you to turn the unit on and off, vary the amount of boost or pause the boost temporarily. There’s also a feature allowing you to control the unit by Bluetooth from your phone using the Festool app.

 

Trying it out
I got the chance to try the system out at a Sherwin-Williams store in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with the help of Gil Lajeunesse, regional sales manager for Festool. He hosted a demonstration day in which a number of the Sherwin-Williams pro customers and staff got to try the exoskeleton.

That gave me the chance to see how other people react to using the device before I gave it a try. 

The device is designed to fit most adults and must be adjusted to fit each user. During the demos, Gil made quick adjustments to shift the unit from user to user. You put it on like a backpack with padded shoulder straps, a padded waist belt that takes weight off your shoulders, a chest strap to further secure the unit, and arm straps to connect the boosting devices to your arms.

 

How it feels
The system is well designed to not restrict your range of motion very much at all. By working mostly on your upper arms, it provides lift where you need it and freedom to move from the elbows down. When you turn it on, you hear the quiet, battery-powered compressor in the backpack fire up. You don’t really feel anything until you bring your arms up to horizontal. Then the boost kicks in, causing most wearers to immediately smile.

A boost of 11 pounds might not seem like a lot, but it makes a big difference. I picked up two 1-gallon paint cans. Without the unit, it is real work to hold them at arm’s length. With the boost, it seemed like I could hold them indefinitely.

Festool’s primary target for this device is people who have to do a lot of overhead work such as painting, drywall sanding, overhead installations, and the like. Besides lifting paint cans, I tried maneuvering a heavy drill at chest height and higher. That would normally be quite fatiguing, but it seemed almost effortless.

 

Buddy with a boost
The exoskeleton doesn’t turn you into some robotic superhero like the $6 Million-Dollar Man. It’s more like having a buddy instantly handy to give you a boost. It’s great for handling awkward overhead tasks like drywall sanding, installing crown moulding, lifting upper cabinets into position, and all manner of ceiling work, such as installing overhead lighting. I wish I would have had it when I was doing tongue-and-groove paneling on various ceilings in my home.

I could also see this as a great aid for cabinet assemblers. Turn the boost off while assembling the box, then turn it on to lift it onto a cart or into a truck. However, since it only boosts the upper arms, it’s not going to be much help on lower lifting such as muscling sheet goods onto a CNC or table saw.

Do you need it?
The Festool ExoActive exoskeleton is not cheap at about $3,500. Whether it is worth it for you depends a lot on the kind of work you do. But if you find yourself straining with overhead tasks and lifting, it could be just what you need. After all, $3,500 today is less than a lot of medical insurance deductibles or a trip to the emergency room.

For those of us who are older, it might allow us to work longer safely without injury. For younger workers, it could help them avoid the stresses on their body that will shorten their work life. You can work longer and safer without tiring and stay focused on the job at hand rather than the lift involved.

Learn more at festoolusa.com.