Another Exoskelaton

[mgwmgw]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ6FGLQpmaw&feature=context-gfa
Commercially available planned 2014.
Uses crutches for stability but not for control.
Again, not completely good, but maybe something can be learned from it.
No discussion on the video about price.

[Burgerman]

I bet it never gets to market. 15 years from now these will be compact, invisible, and work as good as or better than legs did. But not quite yet.

But I think realistically it will only be useful to those that are recently injured. Bones, deteriorate muscles vanish, pressure issues and in my case hernias etc would all make it impossile.

[snoko]

There are already suits available if you have 10 grand from some Israel company.

Problem with me is it would do nothing to strengthen the supporting connective tissue thats been damaged , so forcing me to move against that would just make me worse ( As happens when im forced to weight bare or move ) .

As tissue disorders are generally perceived as being unharmful or not - serious I fear it will be a long long time before I see anything - and prob not in my lifetime till diagnostics improve and highlight it.

snok

[mgwmgw]

Ex-Gooserider is working on a Redman standing chair for himself, modifying it to meet his needs. It will not allow him to take a step, but it will allow him to stand at a workbench. I understand that not everyone can use such a chair, and that the chair needs to be customized for each person - the dimensions of their hips, where they need padding and support etc. Presumably there will be some paraplegics who cannot use this kind of chair, perhaps including Burgerman and Snoko.

I expect that when Ex-Gooserider tries standing up, he will begin by doing so for a very short time, with someone else present in case something goes wrong.

An exoskelaton would require balancing on one leg at a time. Except for the New Zealand model, all the competitors I have seen require crutches to prevent one from falling over or to indicate that one wants to take a step. While being able to move the legs one at a time would have advantages in terms of curbs and steps, I can understand why not everyone would want to even try, and why some people would be unable to do it.

I do not expect anyone to invent the device that will be perfect for everyone right away. I am more interested in seeing what progress is made and whether ideas from the inventions can be made useful to various individuals.

If nothing else, all of these alternatives have similar requirements with respect to batteries, so some of the same ideas can be used.

[Fulliautomatix]

There are already suits available if you have 10 grand from some Israel company.

More like 100,000.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/13025/20121107/paralysis-blind-man-takes-first-steps-robotic.htm

[snoko]

There are already suits available if you have 10 grand from some Israel company.

More like 100,000.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/13025/20121107/paralysis-blind-man-takes-first-steps-robotic.htm

nope I saw this one used by this lady who ran the marathonquoted hereas 10 grand here 3-4 yrs ago when it was made available.

snok

[rollingcowboy]

I was in the out patient at Craig Hospital this week and was invited to a 'Fair' showing some of the machines that Craig are using now for rehab.
Got to see some very impressive hi tech stuff.
I think most of these developments will be most valuable to the new injuries as Burgerman said above.
But still - it is very cool stuff.
I saw a girl (I would guess 18 years old) with a complete sci that was wearing an Exoskeleton made by ESKO.
The battery powered machine was walking her around - with crutches and an attendant behind for safety.
She was all smiles!

There were about 100 people in the room. There were 2 people - myself and my son (he has a mechanical engineering degree with interest in robotics) - that were watching closely what was actually happening!

We were very impressed with the technology. Nobody else seemed to care very much - I was kind of shocked by that.

There is little real world application for this right now, but who knows what the future is?

[Burgerman]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... perPowers/

57 mins onwards... The hamster, and a paraplegic and an exoskeleton!

Sorry, UK only.