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Paralyzed Man Walks Again Using Exoskeleton

Posted by kdawson on from the somewhere-there-is-a-crime-happening dept.

dominique_cimafranca notes a story up at the Daily Mail in the UK about a partially paralyzed man who is able to walk again using an exoskeleton frame. The article goes a bit far in comparing the device to Robocop, but it does show pictures of the man, paralyzed for the last 20 years, regaining some use of his legs. Quoting: "The device, called ReWalk, is the brainchild of engineer Amit Goffer, founder of Argo Medical Technologies, a small Israeli high-tech company. Something of a mix between the exoskeleton of a crustacean and the suit worn by Robocop, ReWalk helps paraplegics — people paralyzed below the waist — to stand, walk and climb stairs. The system, which requires crutches to help with balance, consists of motorized leg supports, body sensors and a back pack containing a computerized control box and rechargeable batteries."

27 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. omg Robocop by to_throw_shapes · · Score: 5, Funny

    WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY

    1. Re:omg Robocop by syrinx · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'd buy that for a dollar!

      --
      Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
    2. Re:omg Robocop by superdave80 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think it would be closer to six million dollars, man.

    3. Re:omg Robocop by megamerican · · Score: 3, Funny

      Here's a picture of the new prototype they are working on with a top British scientist.

      --
      If you have something that you dont want anyone to know, maybe you shouldnt be doing it in the first place -Eric Schmidt
    4. Re:omg Robocop by camg188 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Now they just have to re-animate Nixon's head.

    5. Re:omg Robocop by tobiasly · · Score: 2, Funny

      Pfsssh. Stephen Hawking was first.

    6. Re:omg Robocop by NeuroManson · · Score: 2, Funny

      In today's dollars, that'd be what, $2500? I think it's gonna need more than that.

      --
      Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
  2. Neat, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does it run Linux?

    1. Re:Neat, but... by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Funny

      Does it run?

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    2. Re:Neat, but... by CaptainPatent · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes it runs...

      And my name isn't Linux.

      --
      Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
    3. Re:Neat, but... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Funny

      Does it run Linux?

      Considering that he didn't have to type furiously at each step, I imagine not.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    4. Re:Neat, but... by carlmenezes · · Score: 2, Funny

      Imagine a beowulf cluster of...

      omg! Attack of the clones!

      --
      Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
    5. Re:Neat, but... by hvm2hvm · · Score: 4, Funny

      Forest then?

      --
      ics
    6. Re:Neat, but... by rrkap · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ah, yes, for the ability to type furiously for a moment followed by a headlong rush into a wall.

      --
      I like my beverages with warning labels!
  3. Now if they made it by geekoid · · Score: 3, Funny

    sounds like a terminator unit when it walks, we ahve a winner.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:Now if they made it by EnsilZah · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wow, that's a lot of franchises mixed in there, A company named Cyberdyne creating an exoskeleton from [insert anime name here] called Hal piloted by what appears to be a Vulcan.

  4. Yeah, but by geekoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    can he do the robot?

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  5. Re:Stairs? by sakdoctor · · Score: 4, Funny

    People said that about the Daleks too.

  6. Relief for my hand ahead!!! by Tatisimo · · Score: 4, Funny

    I dream of the day I can cut off this buggy tired right arm of mine and replace it with a bionic one. So long, RSI! Hell, even throw in a USB cable for easier input and flash storage. Then I shall return to EMACS!!!!

    --
    Give Kashyyyk back to the Wookies
    1. Re:Relief for my hand ahead!!! by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      What would happen to you if you flew into the US and the customs agents wanted to confiscate your cybernetic limb to analyze as they can do now with your laptops and other electronic devices? What recourse would you have to prevent such thing?

      Crush their skulls?

      You can have my cold dead hands when you pry them from my cybernetic body!

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  7. Interesting observation by BigJClark · · Score: 3, Funny


    Anybody else notice the pictures of the person in the exo-suit (save robocop) are taken at wheelchair-height?

    Hmm

    --

    Hi, I Boris. Hear fix bear, yes?
  8. Have you seen this chicken? by CorporateSuit · · Score: 5, Funny

    They're the wrong trousers Gromit!

    --
    I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
  9. Steven Hawking's Exoskeleton Is Cooler by saudadelinux · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39133

    --
    I didn't think the house band in Hell would play this badly.
  10. Re:Next, Effort to Duplicate the EYE. by corbettw · · Score: 2, Funny

    And the day we figure out how to safely power cars with blood, we solve the problems of dependence on foreign energy AND overpopulation!

    --
    God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
  11. Re:Next, Effort to Duplicate the EYE. by gregbot9000 · · Score: 2, Funny

    and also to "see" things like a drinking glass and reach out and grab it.

    Seems like that might not be such a good idea with all that hardware in your mouth, unless you drink it with your eye.

  12. Re:omg Robocop $6M Man? But, Steve Austin by davidsyes · · Score: 2, Funny

    will NOT BE THAT MAN....

    In Israel, that product may be CALLED "ReWalk", but in the US, it will probably mean "NO FLY".

    That chair says, "Quicky", and that makes all sorts of things come to mind. I wonder what kind of "charge" the chair position offers. Quick-charge?

    And, to need crutches to balance... why not just build servo-gyro circular/shaft motors (which, hopefully won't burn out every 5,000 steps) to dispense with the crutches. Now, if the crutches are a cover story for machine guns....

    Well, Machine Girl has that beat...

    http://www.horror-movies.ca/horror-movie.php?id=6678

    http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1072131/machine_gun_breasts/

    http://www.movierapture.com/machinegirl.htm

    http://inventorspot.com/articles/bizarre_breast_massage_robot_rea_11148

    --
    Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
  13. WTF!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    WTF is wrong with you people? 77 comments and no "I for one" joke? That's the only reason I even read the article.

    Fine, guess I'll have to do it.

    I for one welcome our new paralyzed, powered exoskeleton-

    Oh fucking forget it already. You people make me sick. This place used to mean something.