Your tired legs can take a hike — motorized pants are here

Have you ever found yourself in over your head, when a “walk” with your friends turned into scaling the side of a mountain and praying you make it home alive?

If so, a new product from Arc’teryx and Skip, a spinoff of Google’s X Labs, might save you from future torture. 

The MO/GO pants — short for mountain goat — give your legs a boost with a lightweight electric motor on the knee, per The Verge: 

• The pants weigh seven pounds and carbon fiber braces hidden under the fabric attach the power-boosting module to the user’s legs. The pants’ batteries are rechargeable and last three hours. 
• The MO/GO pants can boost a hiker’s legs when walking uphill and absorb step impact on the way down. Skip says the pants can make a wearer feel up to 30 pounds lighter. 
• The pants automatically adjust the amount of assistance based on real-time monitoring of leg movements, though users can also adjust assistance on demand.

All that cool tech doesn’t come cheap: The pants are expected to retail for ~$5k and will start shipping in late 2025. 

Bigger picture 

While Arc’teryx is focusing on more leisurely activities, exoskeletons have the potential to change much more than just our hikes.  

• Verve Motion’s SafeLift exosuit looks like a backpack and can offload up to 40% of the weight a warehouse worker lifts every day. 
• German Bionic’s Apogee+ exoskeleton is designed to help nurses with the physical demands of patient care. 
• Wandercraft’s Atalante X provides walking assistance for people with limited mobility and is FDA-approved for stroke and spinal cord injury rehabilitation. 

If that doesn’t already sound pretty amazing, Paralympian Kevin Piette carried the Olympic torch in Paris while wearing Wandercraft’s exoskeleton.