Six Questions With William Billotte
Regarding exoskeletons, no one has his finger on the pulse more than Bill.
For this week’s Six Questions With, we sit down with William “Bill” Billotte, the Executive Director of ASTM International’s Exo Technology Center of Excellence. As more exoskeletons come to market, Bill is leading and working with volunteers across the industry to develop standards for them.
So, tell us about your personal journey and how you got to your current role.
Growing up in Georgia, I spent a lot of time doing outdoor activities such as fishing, hunting, and scouting when not in school. Most summers included working on a farm, harvesting crops, and feeding animals or on a survey crew. I then pursued bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering and a Ph.D. in biology while also holding several different student jobs, such as student assistant fire marshal and student teaching assistant, to name a couple.
Then came 17 years in the Washington, DC area providing scientific and technical advice while employed at Booz Allen Hamilton, the U.S. Navy SPAWAR, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on topics including CBRNE detection, critical infrastructure protection, exoskeletons, and first responder equipment. Early in my career, I got involved with standards through a DARPA project called the Chemical and Biological Sensor Standards Study. Then, I had many years working on a Consumer Reports-style equipment testing program for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for first responders as well as standards for that equipment.
I have coordinated various programs aimed at producing more than 50 national standards focused on homeland security, along with over 100 reports on first responder equipment. During my time at NIST, I also spent a year working as a visiting scientist with the European Union's critical infrastructure protection team at the Joint Research Centre in Italy. During this time, I provided technical assistance to their working groups to help inform EU policies and international standards."
I also sponsored an international forum for partner countries to improve preparedness and capabilities for disasters that involve CBRN agents. I helped sponsor the first international exoskeleton technical interchange meeting at NIST and aided the establishment of the ASTM F48 committee on exoskeletons and exosuits. That is why in 2019, I joined ASTM as the Executive Director of the Exo Technology Center of Excellence and the Director of Global Exo Technology Programs.
What is the mission of the ASTM Exo Technology Center of Excellence, and how can people get involved?
The Center has a vision of people of all ages free to pursue high-quality lives and participate fully in work and society thanks to safe, reliable, and effective exo technologies. Our mission is to accelerate exo technology research, standards, testing, and training by building trust and confidence, creating strong global partnerships, and providing thought leadership. The best way to get involved is through joining the F48 committee on exoskeletons and exosuits. If you are a student, you can also participate in the Exo Games. Working collaboratively, student teams will design, build, and test a self-contained exoskeleton based on a provided project specification while competing for prizes.
Explain what ASTM Committee F48 Exoskeleton and Exosuits does when it comes to creating Exo Standards.
In September 2017, approximately 40 participants representing interests from various stakeholder groups, including military, federal agencies, exoskeleton manufacturers, component manufacturers, academia, user groups, and laboratories, convened at ASTM International’s headquarters to organize a new exoskeleton standards committee, now known as the ASTM International Committee F48 on Exoskeletons and Exosuits. Committee F48 addresses safety, quality, performance, ergonomics and terminology for exoskeleton systems and components during the full life cycle of the product – from before usage, to maintenance, to disposal – including, security and information technology considerations. The activities cover industrial, emergency response, medical, military, and consumer applications.
Where do you see exo technology going in the future? What should we expect in the next five years versus ten years?
Today we have people using exoskeletons for rehabilitation, industry jobs, and even to complete marathon races. The technology is evolving rapidly, and there is growing awareness and interest in trying it out. Many people still talk about exoskeletons and the user as almost two separate entities, but, in reality, it takes both of them paired together to make a symbiotic system. It is straightforward to see how that system works together when it is helping someone who can’t stand and walk to do that again and even compete in a road race. It is much more difficult to see the symbiotic effect when you have exoskeletons on healthy and able users.
I will first address the medical exoskeleton area. In five years, you will see medical exoskeletons bringing people back closer to their full capabilities. In ten years, I think you will see medical exoskeletons enabling people with disabilities to exceed the capabilities of people without any medical condition. In industry and other application areas, in five years, you will start seeing jobs designed to take advantage of a person wearing an exoskeleton. You will also have increased consumer applications and maybe the initial interest in using these in sports games. In ten years, you will see exoskeletons that start redefining how work and play are done. The exoskeleton and user will reach a symbiosis that enables them to move and interact in both the physical and virtual space, creating a blurring of the cyber-physical space.
How do government regulators look at exo technology?
Committee F48 on exoskeletons and exosuits has been very fortunate to have participation from several government agencies. Exoskeletons are an emerging and evolving technology where they are currently regulated for medical applications. However, no regulations exist for other application areas such as industry, construction, consumer, or public safety. In the United States, federal agencies, per the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA), are directed to adopt voluntary consensus standards wherever possible. This is explained in detail in OMB Circular A-119. Committee F48 is working diligently to develop global standards to enable safe, reliable, and effective exoskeletons across all application areas.
Last year, the Exo Technology Center of Excellence hosted the first EXO GAMES. This summer, the Games will take place in Philadelphia. What are the EXO GAMES, and how can teams participate?
The Center has been working on the Exo Games idea for over three years, and we were overjoyed to be able to finally bring this to reality and host the first event in 2023 at the University of Central Lancashire, which is where the ASTM Exoskeleton Student Chapter resides. The Exo Games is a student-driven innovation initiative where teams construct a self-contained exoskeleton using a project specification. From this specification, they must produce a design solution, make it, test it with the predefined standards from ASTM’s exoskeletons and exosuits committee (F48), and compete to win a grand prize. We had five teams and over 60 attendees at the first Games.
The 2024 Exo Games in Philadelphia will focus on First Responder applications. All competitions in this year’s games will include simulated first responder activities, covering law enforcement, firefighting, bomb squads, USAR, and EMTs. Knowledge gained from these games will help further develop exoskeleton requirements for applications in emergency response and unstructured environments.
Interested teams must submit a Team Description Paper by April 5th, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. EST. The competition will be held from Aug. 5-9, 2024, at the ASTM International Headquarters in West Conshohocken, PA.
Thank you to Bill for sitting down with us. If you are interested in Exo Technology, make sure to follow the Exo Technology Center of Excellence and the F48 Committee.