Your next car could be built byexoskeletoned workers donning supersuits made in Sarasota. Sound like science fiction? Not to Rob Brady, whose ROBRADY Design just penned a sales and support agreement with Lockheed Martin to bring the FORTIS industrial exoskeleton and tool arm line to the commercial market. Brady has worked with the military contractor since 2014 on improving the man-powered machinery, helping to “humanize the technology.” The product up until now served military logistics workers but could see an exponential boost in use as it becomes available to the Boeings and Fords of the world, in addition to the Army and Air Force.  Keith Maxwell, project manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, says ROBRADY’s team holds experience in private sector marketing that will be valuable for selling the product, whereas Lockheed Martin has always lived chiefly on government contracts.  The unpowered exoskeleton transfers tool weight so that workers can operate 36-pound tools as if they were weightless, according to Lockheed Martin. The work relies on an elegant design similar to leveraging a broom handle to redistribute weight. This has made the tool useful for plane mechanics doing work overhead, practically eliminating whole categories of injury from the workplace, Maxwell says. The technology could prove equally valuable in the automobile industry or on heavy construction sites.  And Brady says, as this market explodes, Sarasota will reap the benefit. “We will be producing here and may provide training in Sarasota,” Brady boasts. That could mean a major expansion of the 25-person workforce now staffing ROBRADY and sister company ARMORIT.