Exoskeleton Helps Paraplegics Walk!

[3113]

A Berkeley company on Thursday introduced a battery-powered exoskeleton to get paraplegics out of their wheelchairs and walking on their feet.

Called eLEGS, the exoskeleton consists of a robotic frame controlled through crutches. The crutches contain sensors; putting forward the right crutch moves the left leg, and vise versa. The eLEGS battery can enable a user to walk for one day before it needs to be recharged, according to the product’s developer Berkeley Bionics.

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadgetlab/2010/10/exo1_f-252x378-custom.jpg

Full article here.

 

[squarejohn]

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadgetlab/2010/10/exo1_f-252x378-custom.jpg

Full article here.

I saw these exoskeletons first mentioned in Tom Clancy novels being used to allow soldiers to perform superhuman feats. It's nice to see it applied as shown in the article.

 

[Pure]

it's great to see an exoskeleton of use outside of combat in sci fi movies. i think there are incredible possibilities for the disabled, some already here, such as connections of artificial limbs to the nervous system.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Over forty-five years ago I worked on a spinal column injury ward. Back then I declared that within my lifetime a cure would be developed for severed spinal columns. They aren't there, yet but it's good to see this kind of thing coming along in the mean time. Well done, that company!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I saw these exoskeletons first mentioned in Tom Clancy novels being used to allow soldiers to perform superhuman feats. It's nice to see it applied as shown in the article.

Yes, I first read about this in a story about the military Super Soldier. It looked exactly the same with out the crutches. Was touted to allow the soldier to run jump better and higher than a soldier not equipped with the thing.

It is good to see it being used as an aid to Quads or Paraplegics.

 

[wet_special]

Babysteps

Babysteps toward military application. Looking forward to it all.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Babysteps toward military application. Looking forward to it all.

No it was developed for the military first - XOS and HULC - at the bottom of the article are links to those items. And the CEO of Berkley said in the interview that they licensed the technology from U or Cali. who developed it for the military.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Babysteps toward military application. Looking forward to it all.

DARPA started it. This version only has to move a person so it can be battery operated. The MILSPEC type will probably need a fueled powerpac to do what they want from it. Fuel cell might work.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

DARPA started it. This version only has to move a person so it can be battery operated. The MILSPEC type will probably need a fueled powerpac to do what they want from it. Fuel cell might work.

The XOS 2 is tethered and will not be battery equipped for a couple of years. The HULC looks to be powered by something other than batteries.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Robert E. Heinlein would be proud . . .

 

[jomar]

I saw these exoskeletons first mentioned in Tom Clancy novels being used to allow soldiers to perform superhuman feats. It's nice to see it applied as shown in the article.

Robert Heinlein did it in 1959 in Starship Troopers, though maybe Clancy had a different spin.

But yes, amazing application. I forsee a Spanx like garmet...

ETA: Ha! the bear noted it while I was writing.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Robert E. Heinlein would be proud . . .

Yes he would...but I remember a book I read as a child, don't remember who wrote it - it could have been Heinlein - about scouts (boy scouts) on one of the moons of Jupiter...something like that...and they had these suits that were taller than an average man and could do impossible feats.

Robert Heinlein did it in 1959 in Starship Troopers, though maybe Clancy had a different spin.

But yes, amazing application. I forsee a Spanx like garmet...

ETA: Ha! the bear noted it while I was writing.

As I posted to the bears post...the suits were worn like a jumpsuit with integrated helmet...the way it was explained was that the inside of the suit was a matrix of sensors that applied negative feedback to the outside of the suit, only magnified. Twitch your toe and the suit foot kicks a boulder out of the way.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Yes he would...but I remember a book I read as a child, don't remember who wrote it - it could have been Heinlein - about scouts (boy scouts) on one of the moons of Jupiter...something like that...and they had these suits that were taller than an average man and could do impossible feats.



As I posted to the bears post...the suits were worn like a jumpsuit with integrated helmet...the way it was explained was that the inside of the suit was a matrix of sensors that applied negative feedback to the outside of the suit, only magnified. Twitch your toe and the suit foot kicks a boulder out of the way.

I think you may have combined two stories. Farmer on Ganymede is the one about the moon of Jupiter and then there was a short story published in Boy's Life about Scouts on Venus. That was written back in the days when we believed Venus' foggy atmosphere was wet drizzly clouds! I remember the 'new kid' being disgusted at the thought of eating a giant dragon fly and finding it tasted like lobster . . . I've read that bird-eating spiders taste like crab.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I think you may have combined two stories. Farmer on Ganymede is the one about the moon of Jupiter and then there was a short story published in Boy's Life about Scouts on Venus. That was written back in the days when we believed Venus' foggy atmosphere was wet drizzly clouds! I remember the 'new kid' being disgusted at the thought of eating a giant dragon fly and finding it tasted like lobster . . . I've read that bird-eating spiders taste like crab.

Maybe, but I was sure it was not on Venus.

I have read and enjoyed Farmer on Ganymede and know it wasn't that. I remember them practicing on the spaceship...in fact most of the story took place on the ship. I think the story ended when they got to the planet or moon or wherever they were going. It could have been in Boy's Life, but it could have been in Analog as I was ready both of those at that time.

You may also be confusing another story by Heinlein...the one about Sir Issac Newton the Venusian Dragon? Was that Citizen of the Galaxy? I don't remember they all tend to run together at my age.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I don't remember they all tend to run together at my age.

Don't they, though. I used to keep everything in my head. Now I carry note cards constantly . . .

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Don't they, though. I used to keep everything in my head. Now I carry note cards constantly . . .

If I need to remember it I write it down...but lately I have lost the notebook I write things in so I started typing them in the computer. I must have started doing that sometime ago...I found some old notes I wrote and thought I had lost.