A team of Cooper engineering students won first place for presentation and placed second overall at Exo Games 2026, the third annual competition sponsored by ASTM International’s Exo Technology Center of Excellence (ET CoE). Held from August 3 to 6 at ASTM Headquarters in Pennsylvania, this year’s Exo Games focused on emergency response, challenging students from four institutions of higher education to collaboratively design, build, and test exoskeleton and exosuit technologies. 

Exoskeletons are mechanical structures that help augment or assist with physical activity through mechanical interaction with the body. The Cooper team, made up of students Sheikh Islam, Evelyn King, Sadia Rahman, and Antonio Velez, competed as Team X.O. Exo and built upon their research and work as part of miliLab to build an exoskeleton to assist first responders. Founded by Mili Shah, professor and chair of mathematics, miliLab focuses on interdisciplinary projects that combine mathematics with art, architecture, and engineering. Currently, the lab is collaborating with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on a variety of projects including research on exoskeletons.

All competitions in the 2026 Exo Games included simulated emergency response activities, covering law enforcement, firefighting, bomb squads, urban search and rescue, and emergency medical technicians. NIST has partnered with ASTM ET CoE through a cooperative research and development agreement to develop the underpinning metrology for exoskeletons and promote student STEM involvement.