Showing posts with label Exoskeleton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exoskeleton. Show all posts

January 8, 2017

Robotics Help The Paralyzed Stand And Regain Mobility


Some of the best work being done in robots to help disabled people is from Dr. Amit Goffer of the Technion University in Israel. 

ReWalk is a robotic battery-powered exoskeleton with motorized legs and hips that enable paraplegics to walk, turn, and even climb and descend stairs again--and is FDA cleared as of 2014. 

And UPnRIDE is a wheeled auto-balancing robotic device that enables quadriplegics to stand and be mobile. 

The inventor, Dr. Goffer, is himself paralyzed from the waist down due to an accident 20-years ago.

This has inspired him to create these absolutely amazing robotic devices to assist all disabled people who are wheelchair bound. 

Approximately 1% of the people are wheelchair bound that's 70 million

And surely, many more especially in the developing world need wheelchairs and don't have them.

So these amazing robotic devices have the incredible capacity to help so many people stand and regain their mobility and dignity again. 

These are nothing short of miraculous and a new beginning for so many people suffering from spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, palsy, strokes and more

Being able to stand again is not only psychology healthy and helpful for mobility, but it may aid in preventing secondary conditions that wheelchair-bound people can suffer, such as osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, loss of lean mass and difficulty with bowel and urinary functions.

ReWalk has also received approval for coverage from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for those qualifying and with spinal cord injuries. 

Hopefully, this is just the beginning for helping people around the world. Mobility is life! ;-)


(Source Photo: here with attribution to The Times of Israel)
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December 10, 2013

Walking Tall Again



CNN has a video out today on this amazing new technology for paraplegics. 

It is a miraculous robotic exoskeleton called the ReWalk by Argo Medical Technologies in Israel. 

The inventor, Dr. Amit Goffer, is himself quadriplegic and asked a simple question, "Why is a wheelchair the only answer for those with spinal injuries?"

He challenged the status quo and now there is a way for paralyzed people to stand and walk again. 

I choose this video for the blog, because I found it so immensely inspiring to see someone previously wheelchair-bound participating in a marathon in Tel Aviv this year. 

The ReWalk is strapped on and has motorized joints and sensors and a battery pack. 

When combined with some braces, a person has mobility again on their feet!

I cried when I saw the patient, Radi Kaiuf go over the finish line after walking 10 kilometers with the ReWalk and everyone, including the children on the sidelines, cheering for him.

Congratulation to all the researchers from the Technion University who helped make this a reality--hopefully people around the world, who are in are in need, will be able to benefit in the future and walk again. 

Truly, mobility is life! ;-)
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October 10, 2013

Halo Arrives To Our Warfighters


So excited about the Army's experimental Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS). 

This is really our fast, strong, and agile fighting force of the future. 

The integration of technologies for the individual warfighter, including sensors, exoskeleton body armor, weapon systems, communications, and monitoring of health and power makes this an unbelievable advance. 

I think the MIT research on magnetorheological fluids--which convert from liquid to solid body armor in milliseconds (sort of like Terminator 2) with a magnetic field or electric current (controlled, so the enemy doesn't bog down the forces) is a true game changer for balancing agility and force protection. 

In the future, I believe these suits will even incorporate capabilities to drive, dive, and fly. 

This will complement unmanned swarms of dumb drones with intelligent human fighters that will take the battlefield on Earth and beyond. ;-)
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