Alphabet X spinoff partners with Arc’teryx to bring ‘everyday’ exoskeleton to market
Skip, a wearable tech startup that began as a secretive project inside Alphabet, exited stealth this week to announce a partnership with outdoor clothing specialist Arc’teryx. The deal is the first to bring Skip’s technology to market: “powered pants” that utilize a soft exoskeleton.
The tech, called MO/GO, short for “mountain goat,” is a hybrid soft/rigid system designed to assist wearer mobility and boost the wearer while walking. Rather than actually walking for a person, it provides a 40% energy assistance to the quadricep and hamstring, while offloading work from the knees.
Reservations for the technology open this week, with plans to begin shipments later this year. MO/GO is getting a soft launch in late-summer, early-fall as a rental, offered near hiking destinations like the Grand Canyon.
TechCrunch first wrote about the technology in 2021, while it was still a project being developed in-house at Alphabet’s X Labs moonshot factory.
