Technological highlights in 2025: Exoskeletons "fly into ordinary families", with prices dropping from millions to hundreds of yuan.

Exoskeletons have become popular this year. This device, which seems to only appear in science fiction movies or professional wards, has now become so popular that it has reached ordinary people.

In June, the Badaling and Juyongguan Great Wall scenic areas successively launched exoskeleton rental services to provide assistance to tourists during climbing, allowing them to easily climb the Great Wall and become "heroes" without pain. So far, the exoskeleton device rental service in scenic areas has officially "entered Beijing".

Previously, exoskeletons have gained popularity in scenic areas across the country multiple times. During the Spring Festival, the news that tourists in Mount Tai and Baiyun Mountain rented and wore exoskeleton devices to climb the mountains had a total reading volume of over 100 million times. During the May Day holiday, scenic areas such as Mount Huang, Mount Tai, Mount Hua, Mount Lu, Wugong Mountain, and Mount Emei also launched the new business of renting exoskeleton devices. The rental price was about 80 to 100 yuan for every three hours, which triggered another round of heated discussions.

In addition, in April, Chengtian Technology Company put hundreds of exoskeleton devices, EasyGo, on the shelves at a price of about 2,500 yuan. They were sold out in 15 seconds, and hundreds of people queued up to make reservations. This grand occasion even exceeded the expectations of the company's founder and once again caught the attention of all sectors.

So, why has the exoskeleton become so popular among ordinary people this year?

From 2 million to 200 yuan, Chinese manufacturing has achieved "affordable prices"

The significant price reduction is the most important reason.

How expensive was it before? For example, when Aoshark Intelligence was founded in 2018, its goal was to "reduce the price of medical exoskeleton devices to half of that of similar foreign products" - more than 2 million yuan. Although it was a more affordable alternative to overseas products, this price was still a stretch for many large hospitals, let alone ordinary consumers.

Now, the price of medical - grade exoskeletons has dropped below 100,000 yuan, and the civilian - grade ones have been reduced to the thousand - yuan level. Even when I searched for "exoskeleton" on Taobao, I could find a large number of products priced at two or three hundred yuan.

If we break down the reasons for the price reduction, the self - research and domestic substitution of components may be the most important driving forces.

For example, Jike Technology has reduced the cost of industrial sensors from two to three thousand yuan to dozens of yuan through self - research. Another example is Aoshark Intelligence, which has achieved self - research on all components except for the chips. Taking the encoder as an example, it has reduced the price from 1,000 - 2,000 yuan to more than ten yuan.

The use of new composite materials in recent years is also a major factor contributing to the price reduction.

For example, the "thousand - yuan - level" exoskeletons of Chengtian Technology and Aoshark Intelligence both use carbon fiber - reinforced nylon composite materials. Compared with the pure carbon fiber materials used before, the unit cost has been reduced from three - digit numbers to single - digit numbers, and at the same time, they have better strength, rigidity, and thermal stability.

The expansion of production scale and the reduction of unit cost also contribute significantly.

Yu Yunbo, the founder and CEO of Kenqing Technology, once said that thanks to the efficient and collaborative industrial chain in the Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macao Greater Bay Area, the company was able to quickly achieve large - scale production of products and was capable of achieving the goal of producing 2,000 - 3,000 units per month before May Day in 2025. Guojin Securities also pointed out that exoskeleton robots and humanoid robots share some common components. As their supply chains gradually expand and mature, it will help reduce production costs.

At the same time, enterprises have begun to attach importance to the consumer - grade market and have customized products with more acceptable prices for it.

For example, Aoshark Intelligence has reduced the price of exoskeletons to less than 10,000 yuan by reducing the battery capacity and some functions, and has launched them as elderly assistance devices in the civilian market.

In addition, local subsidies and medical insurance coverage have also made consumers more clearly aware of the price reduction.

According to the subsidy details issued by Shanghai and Guangzhou, consumers who purchase intelligent devices such as elderly - assistance exoskeleton robots can enjoy a maximum subsidy of 30%. Similarly, the Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation included high - tech projects such as exoskeleton robots in the subsidy catalog for assistive devices for the disabled in 2024. At the same time, according to a report by Beijing Business Today, the rehabilitation training projects using exoskeleton robots have been included in the Class A of Beijing's medical insurance, which can relieve the economic pressure on patients.

The "mountain - climbing magic tool" is just the tip of the iceberg

The exoskeleton, which sounds full of a sense of technology, actually originally refers to the hard outer shells of insects and shellfish in nature, which can enhance their movement and protection abilities. Exoskeleton wearable devices can provide humans with power support similar to that of biological exoskeletons, to enhance or restore human movement abilities.

The exoskeleton devices created by humans are not new things in recent years. As early as 1960, General Electric in the United States developed the Hardiman exoskeleton system, which, as a wearable individual - soldier equipment, could help users lift heavy objects.

The practice of using exoskeletons outdoors can be traced back to the summer of 2024. A power exoskeleton pants jointly launched by outdoor equipment giant Arc'teryx and Google can make users feel like they have lost 14 kilograms in weight. However, this equipment is quite expensive, with an official retail price of about $5,000 and an early - bird price of $4,500. In addition, the production cycle is long, and it will not be delivered until the end of 2025. In contrast, Chinese products priced below 10,000 yuan stand out in terms of cost - effectiveness and have been more quickly applied in various scenic areas.

The fields of mountaineering and outdoor activities are just a small aspect of exoskeleton applications. According to the data in the following figure, the medical field accounts for the highest proportion in the global wearable exoskeleton robots, about 41%, followed by the manufacturing, defense and aviation, and commercial fields.

As early as June 2018 in the medical field, China's State Food and Drug Administration issued the first medical device registration certificate to Daei Robotics, which means that China's medical exoskeleton robots have entered the commercialization stage.

There are also many application cases of exoskeleton devices in the industrial field at home and abroad. For example, during the 618 promotion in 2018, JD.com equipped its employees with exoskeleton robots to enhance their ability to walk for a long time and carry heavy loads to handle a large number of orders. Another example is the exoskeleton robot developed by Sarcos Robotics in the United States, which has been used by customers such as Boeing, Caterpillar, and Amazon in scenarios such as warehouse handling and heavy - object grasping in the manufacturing industry.

Exoskeleton devices have also been used in actual combat in emergency rescue. The national emergency fire - fighting department has included exoskeleton robots as cataloged equipment, and they have been applied in fire brigades in many places such as Shanghai, Chongqing, Harbin, and Shenyang.

In terms of the working principle, exoskeletons can be divided into two major categories: passive and active.

Passive exoskeletons do not use a power source. Instead, they use materials such as springs, levers, pneumatics, or carbon fiber to store energy when deformed and release energy when returning to their original shape, with a relatively simple structure. The current optimization direction of such products focuses on material lightweighting and mechanical design.

Passive exoskeleton products are relatively inexpensive and light in weight. The EasyGo, which was sold out in 15 seconds as mentioned at the beginning of this article, belongs to the passive exoskeleton. It has reduced the product price from the ten - thousand - yuan level to 2,500 yuan. It uses carbon fiber - reinforced nylon composite materials, and the whole machine weighs less than 2.5 kilograms.

Active exoskeletons require an external power source and are basically the same concept as "exoskeleton robots". Generally, they include five major modules: a mechanical system, a driving system, a sensing system, a control system, and an energy system. Among them, the sensors can sense the human movement intention in real - time; the control system can adjust the power mode and intensity output by the device in real - time according to the information feedback from the sensors, and can also be flexibly adjusted through software programming. The future development directions of such products include AI integration, energy breakthroughs, and lightweight driving.

Generally speaking, active exoskeletons have a more complex structure and a relatively higher selling price. For example, the exoskeleton robot jointly developed by Kenqing Technology and Mount Tai Scenic Area can sense the user's movement intention through AI algorithms and is priced at more than 6,999 yuan.

A blueprint worth hundreds of billions: Institutions predict amazing growth rates, comparable to humanoid robots

So, how long can the exoskeleton remain popular?

Many research institutions have given quite optimistic data predictions for exoskeleton robots. For example, Fortune Business Insight pointed out that the global exoskeleton robot industry scale was $900 million in 2022 and is expected to reach $14.67 billion in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42.2%. MarketsandMarkets believes that the global scale of exoskeleton robots was $700 million in 2023 and will grow to $3.7 billion in 2028, with a CAGR of up to 38%.

Domestic institutions' predictions are even more radical. The LeadLeo Research Institute predicts that the sales of Chinese exoskeleton robots will increase from 680 million yuan in 2021 to 10.56 billion yuan in 2025, with a CAGR of up to 98.5%. The Forward - looking Industry Research Institute believes that the market scale of Chinese exoskeleton robots will be 2.4 billion yuan in 2028, with a CAGR of 50% from 2023 to 2028. The computer team of BOC Securities believes that its future market scale may reach the level of tens of billions of dollars, with a growth rate of up to 40%, which is comparable to one of the main investment themes in the A - share market in 2025 - humanoid robots.

Where does the seemingly "overflowing" confidence of all parties come from?

The strong market demand is probably the strongest confidence support.

In addition to the case of the products being sold out in 15 seconds mentioned at the beginning, even the power exoskeleton pants as expensive as those of Arc'teryx, which are priced at more than 30,000 yuan, were sold out instantly in the first - batch pre - sale, and the delivery time for the orders placed at the end of last year has been scheduled until the summer of 2026. A lightweight, consumer - grade wearable exoskeleton launched by Jike Technology in 2023 sold more than 3,000 units in a month at a crowdfunding price of $299. You should know that the total sales volume of the entire exoskeleton industry in 2021 was only about 5,400 units. The above examples, combined with the accelerating aging of society, further confirm the enthusiasm of the civilian market for exoskeleton robots. As a blogger said, the demand for exoskeleton robots from the elderly and scenic areas is a rigid demand and is currently difficult to be replaced.

Even in the medical field, which currently has the highest market share, the penetration rate of exoskeleton devices is still relatively low. According to a report by Sohu Technology in 2024, although Daei Robotics has been deployed in 200 - 300 hospitals across the country, it believes that the popularity rate of exoskeleton robots in domestic hospitals may be less than 10%. At the same time, according to the data from China Science Daily, in 2024, there were 3.57 rehabilitation therapists per 100,000 people in China, and there is still a talent gap of more than three times compared with the goal of having 12 rehabilitation therapists per 100,000 people set by the National Health Commission in the "Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Rehabilitation Medical Work" in 2025. Exoskeleton robots can enable therapists to change from one - on - one treatment to one - on - many treatment, significantly improving work efficiency. Therefore, it can be predicted that with the significant price reduction and the significant improvement in AI - related performance in recent years, the expansion of the medical market will speed up.

Even the overseas market is a target for domestic exoskeleton enterprises to explore. For example, Aoshark Intelligence has started to implement its overseas expansion plan because it has found that markets with a good industrial foundation in Europe such as Germany, Italy, and France, as well as markets with a serious aging population such as Japan and South Korea, have a very mature market awareness of exoskeleton robots, and the demand is huge and rigid.

Against the background of the significant price reduction brought about by the continuous enhancement of the supply - chain ability mentioned above, a large amount of market demand can be better met.

Policy has also added impetus to the prospect of exoskeleton robots. In 2024, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Implementation Plan for Developing the Silver - haired Economy and Improving the Well - being of the Elderly", emphasizing that intelligent rehabilitation equipment should be listed as a key development direction. In 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Implementation Plan for the 'Robot +' Application Action", clearly proposing to "actively promote the application verification of exoskeleton robots, elderly - care and nursing robots, etc. in elderly - care service scenarios". At the regional level, many places such as Suzhou, Guangzhou, and Shanghai have also issued relevant support policies.

Under the above factors, the increase in investment has also added more heat to the industry. In the past two years, from 2024 to now, there have been more than 10 exoskeleton financing events globally, with a total amount of more than 1 billion yuan. The investment entities include both government - affiliated institutions such as Zhangjiang Science and Technology Investment and Pudong Capital, as well as market - oriented investment institutions such as Sequoia Capital China and Matrix Partners China. At the same time, BOC Securities pointed out that before 2020, most of the industry financing was in the early rounds such as the angel round, and after that, the proportion of follow - up investments in rounds from A to D increased significantly, which reflects from the side that the maturity of this industry has improved.

At the same time, in terms of ethics, the computer team of BOC Securities pointed out that exoskeleton robots are more "employment - friendly" than humanoid robots. They not only will not replace human employees but can also enhance the abilities of workers, reduce labor injuries, and give full play to China's labor - force advantages. In other words, the social resistance to further promotion in the future is smaller than that of humanoid robots. In terms of application scenarios, exoskeleton robots have been applied in multiple fields, and the demand prospect seems to be clearer than that of humanoid robots.

Conclusion

The summer tourism season is about to start. It can be predicted that exoskeletons will be more widely noticed and used by more tourists in more scenic areas. However, the popularity of exoskeletons is far more than just making mountain - climbing easier.

It symbolizes that cutting - edge technology has truly come down from the altar and benefits the people. It meets the rigid demand of an aging society, enhances the dignity and efficiency of workers, and protects the safety of heroes in emergency rescue.

With the continuous decline in price, continuous technological breakthroughs, and