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eLEGS Exoskeleton Allows Paraplegics To Walk

Posted by Soulskill on from the step-by-step dept.

Zothecula writes "At a press conference held recently in San Francisco, California's Berkeley Bionics unveiled its eLEGS exoskeleton. The computer-controlled device is designed to be worn by paraplegics, providing the power and support to get them out of their wheelchairs, into a standing posture, and walking – albeit with the aid of crutches. The two formerly wheelchair-bound 'test pilots' in attendance did indeed use eLEGS to walk across the stage, in a slow-but-steady gait similar to that of full-time crutch-users."

56 comments

  1. Allow me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Allow me to be the first to welcome our previously wheelchair bound overlords

    1. Re:Allow me by Kepesk · · Score: 2, Funny

      Now if there were only an exoskeleton for my brother's butt...

      (Sorry for the shameless plug; I couldn't resist)

      --
      Help me fix my brother's injured butt!
    2. Re:Allow me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If I had any income, at all, I'd consider rewarding your worthy cause, but on an unrelated note: From reading your website, I gather that your brother is anything but wheelchair bound, in fact, sitting in a wheelchair would be bad for him. I just wanted to point this out as you we're replying to a post about wheelchair-boundedness. Your plug sure has a not-so-contrived relevanced to TFA, but the particular post you were replying to... Wookies, Endor... It doesn't make any sense!!!?!

  2. Dr. Miles Hawkins sues for prior art by JesseL · · Score: 4, Funny

    How long until some gimpy vigilante begins using one?

    --
    "Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
    1. Re:Dr. Miles Hawkins sues for prior art by wowbagger · · Score: 1

      And gets his butt sued off in turn.

      --
      www.eFax.com are spammers
  3. Today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    A little step for a man, a big step for the mankind.

  4. Last thing overheard... by Provocateur · · Score: 1

    in a slow-but-steady gait similar to that of full-time crutch-users

    Er, what's this red button FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooor???

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  5. WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's with the lame blue-titled "MARKETPLACE" thing on the right?

    Slashdot has been going downhill since the last few years... where* do real nerds hang out these days?

    * besides their parents basement - that joke has been dead for a few years too

    1. Re:WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      where* do real nerds hang out these days?

      Maker Faire, TED ... oh you meant hang out while sitting at the computer in their parents' basement.

    2. Re:WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's with the lame blue-titled "MARKETPLACE" thing on the right?

      I think it's called an ADVERTISEMENT.

      Slashdot has been going downhill since the last few years... where* do real nerds hang out these days?

      A real nerd would not have to ask this question. He would also probably be using adblock and/or disable ads in his Slashdot account.

    3. Re:WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is, I already disabled ads in my account. I also can't access my user page anymore, I get "The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request." message.

    4. Re:WTF by couchslug · · Score: 4, Funny

      "where* do real nerds hang out these days?"

      They hang out on /b/. Trust me on this.

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    5. Re:WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      somewhat true. Also on slashdot, however, as "geek culture" has become "mainstream", we've gotten a bunch of pseudointellectual hangers-on who don't have anything better to do than be loud and misinformed. /b/ is nice, but it's also become filled with pseudointellectuals trying to talk about how big their dicks are and find people to hook up with (the cancer that is killing /b/).

      if only there was a way to ban everyone who doesn't know linear algebra, then slashdot would be the place it used to be. like, maybe people who fail the pop quiz get their posts automatically -2 or something.

  6. This, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    this is the future that I am excited about. Sure as hell beats twitter.

    1. Re:This, by mdm-adph · · Score: 2, Funny

      But you see, that's the thing -- we get this AND twitter in the "new future." Now, not only will paraplegics walk, but their legs can automatically tweet where they're going.

      --
      It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
    2. Re:This, by AaxelB · · Score: 1

      Same here! I've long said that when I'm old and feeble, I plan to have a powered exoskeleton that will keep me active and let me do whatever I damn well please. With luck, I've got at least 40-50 years before I need to worry about it, but I love seeing developments like this today. It makes me excited to see what will be available when I'm actually in the market...

    3. Re:This, by gstoddart · · Score: 2, Funny

      Same here! I've long said that when I'm old and feeble, I plan to have a powered exoskeleton that will keep me active and let me do whatever I damn well please.

      See, I want a powered exoskeleton now, before I'm old and feeble ... so I can do whatever I damn well please.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:This, by hAckz0r · · Score: 1

      As long as they are not texting while driving I'm happy. Having a person/machine/cyborg like that step on your foot could really hurt.

    5. Re:This, by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      There are a couple of women who work in my building that use double crutches. I wonder of this device would let them walk without the crutches, if a paraplegic can use it with?

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
  7. Are you saying it's from the future? by digitaldc · · Score: 1

    This is probably just the beginning of an amazing engineering feat that will allow the disabled to have the option of walking or using a wheelchair. I am sure people will adopt this readily and will become one of the most useful products out there.

    These robotic legs will be a benefit to everyone disabled in society...until they become self-aware :\

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
    1. Re:Are you saying it's from the future? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      once the disabled become self aware, we are all toast.

    2. Re:Are you saying it's from the future? by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 1

      I always said that if (when?) I end up paralyzed I would make a robot walker instead of using a chair. I imagined it with 4 or more legs (probably 8) and able to go up stairs.

      Yeah, I know, power.

      --

      ---
      ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
  8. eLEGs for the masses by captain_dope_pants · · Score: 5, Funny

    But the cool arty types will get iLEGs

    --
    while (true != false) process_more_stupid_code();
    1. Re:eLEGs for the masses by multiplexo · · Score: 1

      Steve Jobs told them that if they called it the iLegs that he'd have their legs broken, and that no, he wasn't talking about the robotic ones either.

      Of course if Apple did come out with the iLegs I wonder how long it would be before an Apple engineer lost a prototype in a bar and it ended up on Gizmodo? Of course if he did he could just say "I didn't lose the prototype in a bar, it walked off by itself." I also wonder if a set of Apple iLegs would have a "find my iLegs feature" that would allow you to go to a website, use a built in GPS on the iLegs to determine where they were and then have them walk back to you. Would you be able to download a Ministry of Silly Walks app the iTunes store. Ahh, the jokes are endless.

      --
      cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
  9. Modern Names by cpscotti · · Score: 1

    I'm so happy this isn't called iLegs!!!! eLegs is so.. so.. novel!

    Seriously, where is creativity when come up with these names. I myself work for a "iSomething" company..

    it scares me to thing about our iFuture!
    Oh, now back on topic, the product? awesome! :)

  10. Tell me I'm not the only one by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did anyone else miscue the title as "eLEGO exoskeleton?"

    Awesome unlock for Hawking, dude. LEGO Physicist is the funnest game ever!

  11. What about coverage for such devices? by ethicalcannibal · · Score: 5, Informative

    Have they addressed how accessible they plan these elegs to be? After a decade of fighting for basic prosthetics for patients, as a nurse, I have this horrible cynical vision. I worry that the insurance companies will call it all experimental, like the higher end prosthetics, and refuse to cover it at all, and slapping the word "medical" on the device will raise the price out of reach, even when the technology is more mass produced, and cheaper. Leading to it being totally out of reach financially for a lot of folks that would need it.

    I've had that argument about wheelchairs, walkers, you name it. Hell, I even had to argue that dialysis was NOT an elective treatment to the phone zombie. Although, to the insurance companies credit, despite cutting off coverage for dialysis, I had it fixed in an hour+ when I finally clawed my way to a supervisor.

    I'm talking about US healthcare practices. I don't have any experience with anywhere else.

    1. Re:What about coverage for such devices? by Grygus · · Score: 1

      They seem to be hoping for fairly wide adoption eventually:

      "Clinical trials are scheduled for early 2011, with a limited release in select American rehabilitation clinics within the second half of that year. Training will be provided for therapists, and patients will be able to apply to take part in the eLEGS gait training program. Farther down the road, Berkeley would like to see the product available for home users, so they could put it on in the morning and use it all day."

    2. Re:What about coverage for such devices? by Liquidrage · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Right but as the GP mentioned, just because something is easily available doesn't mean it's easily affordable. And that isn't because it shouldn't be affordable, it's because there are factors that make it such.
      I work with a below the knee amputee and his prosthetic is one notch above a peg leg. And he has rather decent insurance.
      So I could see this being a great device we should try and make available for anyone that would need it, but will end up getting to like .01% of those that need it.
      That doesn't mean I'm saying this is a horrible project, but the external factors after production will likely make this live changing device out of reach for many.

    3. Re:What about coverage for such devices? by BigSlowTarget · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Hah. I own a robotics company. I could probably build these pretty cheaply. What I couldn't do is afford the mandatory testing, liability insurance, permitting, advertising, special individual requirements, mandatory fitting costs, medical consultants, legislative lobbying to make them excluded from traffic laws, environmental impact studies related to the disposal of batteries, payments to financiers to arrange for financing for the twelve month wait between manufacure and actually being paid, FCC testing to make sure they don't interfere with wifi, etc. etc. etc.

      I might make something like this for my own entertainment and/or family use and other people have already. If the US actually wanted cost effective medical technology we would pay less attention to tax incentives and more to removing the barriers that prevent innovators from introducing new products that could actually make profits to tax. I'm not saying remove all the environmental and liability laws, I'm just saying make it possible for small companies to deal with them without a staff of a dozen lawyers. That's not going to happen so people get to suffer instead.

      Sorry about that. If I help you I'll get sued so you don't get help.

    4. Re:What about coverage for such devices? by ethicalcannibal · · Score: 1

      I am not sure liability is the sole issue, though.

      That is a problem, but it seems that the word "medical" causes the cost to raise to ridiculous levels. I would routinely buy velcro for keeping wheelchair cushions from sliding from a wholesale craft site. The exact same product cost 5x as much from the medical catalogs at the facility where I was the head nurse. We managed to velcro everyone's wheelchair cushions (facility of about 43, most in wheelchairs) for the same cost as one.

      I agree liability is an issue, but that only goes so far when the same wingnuts and bolts cost ridiculous amounts more just because they are "medical".

    5. Re:What about coverage for such devices? by wumpyness · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I share the cynicism. The iBot stopped production for that very reason - insurers wouldn't cover enough of the cost.

    6. Re:What about coverage for such devices? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the twelve month wait between manufacure and actually being paid

      Read: billing the insurance company and spending months on hold trying to get through to someone who will eventually get around to explaining that their decision not to pay you is final.

      After proving that your device works and won't kill the user, insurance is the remaining half of the problem, but nobody's going to buy your million dollar legs without it, and the insurance companies sure as hell won't pay for them either.

  12. Ooh Lookout Gromit by thewils · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's the WRONG TROUSERS!

    --
    Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
  13. This is the future by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Am I the only one who got the image of Stephen Hawking sitting inside the frame of a giant futuristic battle robot, blasting turbolasers at everyone when I read the headline?

  14. video by lijkert · · Score: 3, Informative

    here's a video of people walking with it, posted today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcM0ruq28dc

  15. Was that a drive by... by WED+Fan · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...butt plug?

    --
    Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
  16. LEGO Exoskeleton? by FriendlyPrimate · · Score: 1

    Did anyone else initially misread that title as "LEGO Exoskeleton"? Now THAT would be AWESOME!

    1. Re:LEGO Exoskeleton? by Lanteran · · Score: 1

      right here. I am disappointed.

      --
      "People don't want to learn linux" hasn't been a valid excuse since '03.
  17. Who will be able to use these by systemsplanet · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've been in a wheelchair for 20+ years, from a spinal injury when I was 20. I wonder if only newly injured people will benefit from this technology. My bones are probably too brittle to support me even with an exoskeleton. Probably will need years of bone therapy before I could use this. But I'd certainly be willing to try, just so I could look down at people again. It would really freak people out, cause I'm 6" but they're used to looking down at me. Wonder if they'll have some dance and ass-kickin modes too.

    1. Re:Who will be able to use these by Grygus · · Score: 5, Informative

      In the video on the site, they show a woman who's been paralyzed nearly as long as you using the device.

    2. Re:Who will be able to use these by youn · · Score: 2, Funny

      Thanks for the link. I find it ironic the CEO of a robotics company is called Bender :)... don't tell me it's bender from the future who's got a human exo skin to loo human :)

      --
      Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that :p
    3. Re:Who will be able to use these by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Wonder if they'll have some dance and ass-kickin modes too.

      On behalf of every quad I've ever known ... that's the funniest thing I've seen all week.

      I've known some guys who would have been happy to have the high-school shuffle back. :-P

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:Who will be able to use these by internettoughguy · · Score: 1

      These guy's have built a pair that don't need crutches to support them, they look a little bulkier, but more stable.

    5. Re:Who will be able to use these by internettoughguy · · Score: 1

      don't tell me it's bender from the future who's got a human exo skin to loo human :)

      Simulation of bowl movements is not necessary to hide within a human culture, in almost all cases these bodily functions are performed discreetly.

    6. Re:Who will be able to use these by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      Simulation of bowl movements

      Someone stole your 'e'

      Oh, there it is in the headline hiding in front of LEGS. Grab it before it runs off.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    7. Re:Who will be able to use these by drcheap · · Score: 1

      It would really freak people out, cause I'm 6" but they're used to looking down at me.

      Being looked down upon sort of comes with the territory of being 6 inches tall.

      Sorry, I had to :P

  18. VIDEO! by dos4who · · Score: 1

    or it didn't happen!

    --
    "Yes, I have a Disaster Recovery Plan. It's called my Resume"
    1. Re:VIDEO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      or it didn't happen!

      Here you go:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_k30yeCk4c

      Oh, wait... That's a Japanese version that has been available for a couple of years now. It also can help disabled people. Unfortunately, unlike the Berkley version it doesn't use crutches. Oh well, maybe they'll figure that out in another couple of years.

    2. Re:VIDEO! by PhilHibbs · · Score: 1

      Those looked like able-bodied people walking in them.

    3. Re:VIDEO! by PPH · · Score: 1

      And see to it that it has a ZZ Top sound track.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  19. Another benefit... by RAM_Doubler · · Score: 2, Funny

    Use of the suit permits endless use of the phrase, "Get away from her, you bitch!"

  20. what's /b/? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (gibberish for the comment body)

    1. Re:what's /b/? by rockNme2349 · · Score: 1

      what's /b/? (gibberish for the comment body)

      Yes.

      --
      Sewage Treatment Facilities - "Our duty is clear."
  21. Science: by Chris+Tucker · · Score: 1

    It WORKS!

    --
    Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
  22. Yoshiuki Sankai of Japan is way ahead of this by EnlightenmentFan · · Score: 1

    At SciFoo 2010, Yoshiuki Sankai of Tsukuba University gave a talk with videos of the varied robotic exoskeleton walking-prosthetics available from his company. The film included many examples of people who had not walked for years standing up and walking with these "legs". You could hear the doctors and nurses watching exclaiming their amazement and sometimes crying. Here is a 2006 biography of Sankai already discussing his exoskeletal robot, first demoed in 2005: http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/sankai.html Their company page also seems to have more information in English: http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/index.html

    --
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