ABB Robots, Exoskeletons and the Heavy Lifting

Exoskeletons at IFA 2026 and a new ISO draft aim to spare backs. ABB's IRB 660 palletizer, Flexley Mover AMRs and GoFa take the lifting off people instead.

INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS

Chat With Robot

9/24/20261 min read

Before forklifts and pallets, cargo moved on people's backs. Stevedores on the New York docks around 1912 rolled barrels and carried sacks between ships and warehouses all day, and worn-out backs and knees were part of the job.

Black and white photo of dock workers moving rows of barrels beside a ship
Black and white photo of dock workers moving rows of barrels beside a ship

Stevedores handling barrels on a New York dock around 1912. Photo: Lewis Hine / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Machines took over the heaviest lifts, but plenty of bending and carrying stayed with people. Powered exoskeletons were one answer, first in labs and the military. By the 2010s companies like Ekso Bionics were building suits that took weight off a worker's arms or back while the person kept doing the work.

Person wearing a powered exoskeleton frame standing on a stage
Person wearing a powered exoskeleton frame standing on a stage

A powered exoskeleton demonstrated on stage in 2011. Photo: Steve Jurvetson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

At IFA 2026 in Berlin this month, several companies showed consumer exoskeletons. Ascentiz brought separate hip and knee assist modules that clip onto one shared belt. ISO has also registered a draft standard, ISO/DIS 25563, on how employers should choose and introduce wearable assist devices at work.

Man wearing a black and blue upper body exoskeleton standing between two others in a workshop
Man wearing a black and blue upper body exoskeleton standing between two others in a workshop

Trying on an Ekso Bionics upper-body exoskeleton in 2020. Photo: Office of Rep. Mark DeSaulnier / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

The other answer is to hand the lift to a robot. At a Dot's Pretzels plant in Kansas, which runs around the clock, an ABB IRB 660 stacks packed cases onto pallets at the end of two packing lines. Palletizing by hand means lifting case after case, and it is one of the first jobs factories give to robots.

White ABB palletizing robot stacking red and brown cases onto pallets
White ABB palletizing robot stacking red and brown cases onto pallets

An ABB IRB 660 stacking packed cases onto pallets at Dot's Pretzels. Photo: ABB

ABB's Flexley Mover AMRs carry loads across a factory floor so nobody has to push a cart, and GoFa cobots can load machines next to a worker. Here the person supervises and handles the exceptions while the robot does the repetitive lifting.

Low white ABB autonomous mobile robot on a warehouse floor near wooden crates
Low white ABB autonomous mobile robot on a warehouse floor near wooden crates

An ABB Flexley Mover AMR carrying loads across a factory floor. Photo: ABB

I think both will stick around. Exoskeletons suit jobs that move around too much for a fixed robot, and robots suit the ones that repeat. At home, the first wearable assist many people use may be a knee module on a hike, well before a robot carries the laundry basket upstairs.

White ABB GoFa cobot arm handling metal parts at a machine
White ABB GoFa cobot arm handling metal parts at a machine

An ABB GoFa cobot loading parts into a machine. Photo: ABB

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