Hypershell Halo Adds Powered Knees: Four Motors, $2,299, IFA 2026
Hypershell unveiled Halo at IFA 2026 in Berlin on 3 September: a consumer exoskeleton that powers both hips and both knees as one system. The company calls it the first full-leg unit that coordinates four powered joints that way.
The Origin Edition, limited to the first 200 units, is on pre-order from $2,299 / €2,299 / £2,199. PR Newswire says official sales and phased deliveries begin in November. Notebookcheck, citing the product page, reports shipping starting November 2027. I am keeping both, because the two cited pages do not agree on the year.
Four motors, one load path
CEO Kelvin Sun said in the release they did not bolt knees onto the existing hip exo:
“We didn’t simply add powered knees to an existing hip exoskeleton. We redesigned the architecture, power system, and intelligence around the entire lower body, so four powered joints can move as one with the user.”
PR Newswire lists the mechanical bits:
- HyperDrive Pro: four motors, 1,490 W peak
- Knee power unit mass: 170 g each
- PocketVolt battery: 370 g, 72 Wh, up to 20 km in Eco
- Fish-Spine Adaptive Joint: up to 198° lateral, 167° front-to-back
- More than 30 sensors; HyperIntuition 2.0 trained on over 10,000 hours of motion data
- Intent prediction about 200 ms ahead; assistance updates up to 2,500 times per second
- Company-tested squat result: up to 40% less knee-muscle fatigue
- IP54, folds under 8 L, five-buckle fit, on in about 20 s, off in as little as 5 s
Mass is the other disagreement. PR Newswire says 2.6 kg. Notebookcheck reports 3.2 kg (7.05 lb). Use the company’s 2.6 kg as the press number and treat 3.2 kg as the independent recap until Hypershell publishes a single weighed figure.
Notebookcheck also reports company lab numbers for sit-to-stand (40% fatigue cut), cycling (39% less exertion, 42% lower heart rate), and a 1.5-hour battery charge. Halo includes Shelly, a voice/text assistant for setup, assistance tweaks, and route planning. Notebookcheck notes the spec sheet does not say whether Shelly works offline.
A Human’s Take
Powered knees are the interesting part. Hip-only consumer shells already exist; the question is whether four motors stay light enough that you still put the thing on for a real trail. I will believe the 2.6 kg number when someone weighs a production unit with the battery on the hip, and I will believe the ship date when the first Origin serial actually leaves the building. Until then, this is a well-photographed pre-order with a year-shaped question mark.