Sarcos Robotics, a developer of robots that augment humans to enhance productivity and safety, announced that its Guardian XO full-body, battery-powered industrial exoskeleton has been selected as a finalist by Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing IdeasAwards. The Guardian XO robot was named a Finalist in the Best Changing Idea North America and General Excellence categories with award selection to be named on May 10, 2021. Sarcos Robotics announced that it will become publicly listed through a merger transaction with Rotor Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company.
Now in its fifth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcases winners across a wide variety of categories, highlighting businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that are actively engaged in and deeply committed to pursuing innovation when it comes to solving health and climate crises, social injustice, or economic inequality. The award winners will be featured in the Summer 2021 issue of Fast Company, on newsstands May 10, 2021. A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected the winners and finalists from a pool of more than 4,000 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, and more.
The Guardian XOfull-body, battery-powered industrial exoskeleton is designed to allow a worker to safely lift up to 200 pounds and improve productivity by at least three times. Sarcos is targeting a variety of industries such as manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, construction, oil and gas, aviation, defense, and others, and expects to commercially release the Guardian XO exoskeleton in mid-2022 with beta units being launched in the second half of 2021.
“We are proud to be recognized yet again by Fast Company, this time for the prestigious World Changing Ideas Awards,” said Ben Wolff, chairman and CEO of Sarcos Robotics. “Our Guardian XO industrial exoskeleton was created to address the high economic and social costs of occupational injuries, as well as the significant skilled labor shortages that are being experienced globally. We believe it has significant potential to transform a wide variety of industries by increasing productivity, decreasing work-related injuries, and broadening the number of workers able to perform physically demanding labor.”
“There is no question our society and planet are facing deeply troubling times,” said Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “So, it’s important to recognize organizations that are using their ingenuity, impact, design, scalability, and passion to solve these problems. Our journalists, under the leadership of senior editor Morgan Clendaniel, have discovered some of the most groundbreaking projects that have launched since the start of 2020.”