Saw this on television Wednesday night...
availability to the average person can't come
too soon!!
Betty
(in Northern California)
<http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/10/08/a-new-exoskeleton-allows-paralyzed-people-to-walk-again/>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/10/08/a-new-exoskeleton-allows-paralyzed-people-to-walk-again/
O GOD! o god o god Thank you Betty. i am crying
i am shaking i am freaking out i am trying to be
calm olLORD deliver me! that i might be
delivered of this oppression in my life, that i
might know again mobility and pick apples form my
tree and weed my garden and grow my flowers and
buy my food and get what i want and make my art
again????? that that day of deliverance could be
next week or next month or next year, not ten
years, not five years but soon?!!!!!!!!!!
A New Exoskeleton Allows Paralyzed People to Walk Again
someone standing up. Going on a hike. Making eye
contact with someone at their level, instead of
always being looked down upon. These are simple
things that people stuck in wheelchairs don't
have a chance to experience in daily life.
Berkeley Bionics is giving those experiences back
to paraplegics with the introduction of an
exoskeleton suit called eLEGS-a battery powered,
artificially intelligent, wearable outer skeleton
that gives these people back their freedom.
People wearing these devices won't be a common
sight just yet-a suit is currently priced at
about $100,000 a pop, and they'll only be
available for use in clinics at first-but it's an
exciting step forward.
The person straps into an exoskeleton made of
carbon fiber and steel, which weighs 45 pounds.
Sensors in the legs convey their position to a
control unit contained in a backpack, and the
controller tells which joints to bend to create a
natural gait. The user gives the suit commands
using two high-tech crutches: pressure on both
tells the motorized legs to stand up, pressure on
one means to step with the opposite leg. The
suit's battery pack can power up to six hours of
walking, and it can reach speeds above two miles
per hour.
Amanda Boxtel, who was paralyzed from the waist
down in a skiing accident 18 years ago, tried out
the device and says she took to it quickly.
"Walking with eLEGs took some rewiring and
relearning," says Boxtel, "but my body has the
muscle memory. And I learned to walk really
fast." [New Scientist]
The suit will be used in a clinical trials at
select rehabilitation centers starting in early
2011, and its makers hope a commercial model
won't be too far behind. Berkeley Bionics wants
to make a lighter, thinner, and cheaper model
(hopefully closer to $50,000, Berkeley Bionics
CEO Eythor Bender says) available for home use by
2013.
Hit the jump for more info, and a poignant video
of several paralyzed people giving eLEGS a tryout.
Berkeley Bionics isn't the only company in the
exoskeleton game. Argo Medical Technologies, a
company from Israel, is already doing clinical
trials and hopes to have its brand of ReWalk legs
available in 12 to 18 months. There has also been
long-standing interest in building exoskeletons
that turn normal grunts into super-soldiers. In
fact, that military research is where the eLEGS
got their start. They're modeled after an earlier
exoskeleton design by Berkeley Bionics, the HULC,
which enabled soldiers to carry over 200 pounds
of weight for hours at a time.
But the company designed eLEGS specifically for
people who are wheelchair-bound. And the few
people who have tried out the device clearly
appreciate it.
"To take my first step in the eLegs was just
astounding," Boxtel says with tears in her eyes,
"because I bent my knee for the first time in 18
years and I placed my heel on the ground. And
then I transferred my weight. And then I took
another step. And another one. And it was so
natural, and that was what really gripped me."
[CNET]
Being able to stand upright is not only good for
patients' mental well-being, it also aids
digestion and blood circulation to the
extremities. But some experts think the
technology needs more refinement before its ready
for everyday life.
Grant Elliot, an exoskeleton researcher at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media
Lab, says rehabilitation devices like eLEGS and
ReWalk are promising. Still, he says that
attention needs to be paid to such devices to
ensure they remain compact enough for their users
to move freely without bumping into objects.
"Humans are used to moving through human-sized
spaces, like narrow hallways," says Elliot. [New
Scientist]
O MY GOD THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!!!
Argo Medical Technologies Ltd. does far more than
restore mobility to people with severe walking
impairments. By enabling wheelchair users to
stand, walk, and climb stairs, we restore
dignity, health, inclusion, and self-esteem.
Argo brings mobility face-to-face with society.
ReWalk, the first commercially viable upright
walking assistance tool, enables wheelchair users
with lower-limb disabilities to stand, walk, and
even climb stairs. For potentially millions of
wheelchair users, ReWalk delivers a new
perspective - on the world, on themselves, and on
life.
I'VE WRITTEN THEM!
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