Many activities in production and manufacturing only have to be carried out standing up because a chair would block the way on site. By the end of the working day, not only do employees' legs and backs ache, but their concentration and performance are also impaired by the unnecessary standing. For some time now, there have therefore been approaches in various sectors to relieve the strain on people with an additional exoskeleton (external skeleton). These exoskeleton solutions look a little like something out of a science fiction movie, but they are modeled on nature. In contrast to vertebrates, arthropods such as insects have a stabilizing exoskeleton instead of an internal skeleton.

Artificial exoskeletons help where muscle strength alone is not enough, or not enough in the long term - for example to lift heavy parts or to work overhead with a clunky grinding machine for long periods of time. People with paraplegia can walk again with an exoskeleton or - as in Brazil in 2014 - kick off at the opening game of the World Cup. Until now, however, these exoskeletons have had significant disadvantages: they are very heavy, usually weighing over 20 kg, which has a negative impact on their battery life. The operating time often barely reaches two hours - which is insufficient for widespread everyday use.

This is where the start-up company Noonee comes in with its exoskeleton concept. Keith Gunura, CEO of Noonee, researched exoskeletons before founding the company in Rüti near Zurich together with Olga Motovilaova: "We wanted to build an assistive system that is very light and very simple, does not break down in continuous operation and offers a solution to a widespread, everyday problem," says Gunura.

Retain skilled workers by reducing workload

Gunura was familiar with the discomfort caused by standing for long periods from his own experiences during a student job at a packaging service provider in England. "The older female colleagues in particular had a hard time. I heard the exclamation 'oh my legs' every evening there," he recalls. At a workshop for start-up entrepreneurs at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), the two founders learned that this problem also affects the management of large corporations. One of the exercises here was to call potential customers and ask about their interest in a product. "The workshop leader typed in a number and handed us the phone, telling us that someone from one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world would pick up," says Keith Gunura.

To the surprise of the two founders, these phone calls were not met with skepticism, but with great interest, even though they did not even have a prototype to show. And even when the first prototype failed during the demonstration, the car managers only asked when they could meet again. "German companies in particular see demographic trends and the increasing shortage of skilled workers as a key strategic challenge," says Keith Gunura, explaining the great interest shown by potential users. "They are keen to do something to relieve the pressure on their skilled workers in production and create the conditions for employees to remain active for longer."