UK Paraplegic Woman First To Take Robotic Suit Home

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UK Paraplegic Woman First To Take Robotic Suit Home

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday September 4, 2012 @07:07AM from the can-we-call-it-a-mech dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It might be a ways off, but every day we get closer to the possibility of William Gibson's short story The Winter Market becoming a plausible reality. Viable consumer exoskeleton for the paralyzed? Check, finally. Quoting Reuters: 'The exoskeleton is activated by the wearer tilting their balance to indicate the desire to take a step. It supports the body's weight and also allows the person to go up or down stairs, as well as sit or stand up independently. It costs 45,000 pounds and although clinical studies are ongoing that could back a case for health authorities to fund purchases of the device, the developers argue that savings on the treatment of ailments related to inactivity could offset the cost.'"

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Take it to its logical conclusion. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:09 · Score: 1, Interesting

I want a powerful exoskeleton that will let me rob a bank ... burst right through the wall, tear open the safe, and walk away with as much as I can carry while the guard's bullet ping harmlessly off my exoskeleton.
1. Re:Take it to its logical conclusion. by MickyTheIdiot · 2012-09-04 07:12 · Score: 1
  
  I want a power exoskeleton to fight of Xenomorphs.
  Or at least a power loader.
2. Re:Take it to its logical conclusion. by Githaron · 2012-09-04 07:37 · Score: 3
  
  If something like that became easily accessible to the average person, the guards would probably have similar suits.
3. Re:Take it to its logical conclusion. by Riddler+Sensei · 2012-09-04 08:06 · Score: 1
  
  The way most science fiction and cape-comics writers get around this is by trying to claim the suits are one-offs from individual super geniuses a la Iron Man, Steel and even Batman at times.
  Of course, this has absolutely no bearing in reality. It's really not going to happen that "just this one person in the world can makes this". I don't know if it would be awesome or terrifying if such and individual arose, but the idea is so silly that, as you said, it's not likely to ever leave the realm of fiction.
4. Re:Take it to its logical conclusion. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 08:16 · Score: 1
  
  But what about Tesla? He invented free universal wireless energy distribution that nobody's ever been able to duplicate! Clearly if he'd been a mechanical engineer instead of an electrical engineer, he'd have invented an awesome steampunkmechasuit that we still wouldn't be able to duplicate!
5. Re:Take it to its logical conclusion. by Hognoxious · 2012-09-04 09:15 · Score: 1
  
  Apparently there's only one guard and he only has one bullet. So if he doesn't choose his time well the robber's pretty much in the clear.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
6. Re:Take it to its logical conclusion. by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 00:05 · Score: 1
  
  The woman took 17 days to finish the London Marathon. I don't think it's quite ready for prime time superhero/evil criminal mastermind use yet.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
7. Re:Take it to its logical conclusion. by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 00:06 · Score: 1
  
  But what about Tesla? He invented free universal wireless energy distribution that nobody's ever been able to duplicate!
  Probably for the same reason that no one's ever been able to duplicate perpetual motion, time travel or cold fusion devices.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
8. Re:Take it to its logical conclusion. by Agent0013 · 2012-09-05 07:08 · Score: 1
  
  But what about Tesla? He invented free universal wireless energy distribution that nobody's ever been able to duplicate!
  Probably for the same reason that no one's ever been able to duplicate perpetual motion, time travel or cold fusion devices.
  And nobody has been able to figure out how the machine made sheets of chain mail that existed back in the medieval ages. We have records describing how a spool of wire was fed into a machine and when cranked it would link the rings into a sheet that just need to be stitched into a shirt. Today we have to create them by hand link by link.
  Tesla also had a machine that made ball lightning. Spectators would watch the ball lightning come out of the machine and float around the room. We don't know how this machine worked and cannot recreate it today.
  I think you are being a little bit flippant about ancient machines that we have lost the capability to manufacture.
  
  --
  
  -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
Dead or Alive by 0racle · 2012-09-04 07:10 · Score: 3, Funny

You're coming with me.

--
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
1. Re:Dead or Alive by antdude · 2012-09-04 11:42 · Score: 1
  
  "Come with me if you want to live."
  
  --
  Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
2. Re:Dead or Alive by gmhowell · 2012-09-04 13:41 · Score: 1
  
  Bite my shiny metal ass.
  
  --
  Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
3. Re:Dead or Alive by antdude · 2012-09-04 13:47 · Score: 1
  
  No disassemble!"
  
  --
  Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:12 · Score: 1

Maybe his celebrity allowed him more sway with the NHS, but Stephen Hawking already got one of these over a decade ago.
And in the future... by Russ1642 · 2012-09-04 07:14 · Score: 4, Insightful

Won't be long before lazy fat people are using these just because they don't feel like using their own muscles to move their limbs. Happened with the mobility scooters, it'll happen with these suits.
1. Re:And in the future... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:23 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  It wouldn't last. They must tilt and move a bit in order to move the exoskeleton. Too much effort. They would use the skeleton to sit on the mobility scooter and drive around.
2. Re:And in the future... by EmperorArthur · 2012-09-04 07:26 · Score: 1
  
  Wish I had mod points right now.
  Someone show that AC some love, for he/she speaks gospel.
  
  --
  So lets pretend that we've just completed writing this code, as opposed to having just completed sabotaging it -Altera
3. Re:And in the future... by fm6 · 2012-09-04 07:27 · Score: 0, Flamebait
  
  What arrogant crap. All the people I've seen using mobility scooters actually had physical problems that made assistance necessary. OK, a lot of them should have taken better care of themselves when they were younger, but so what? I doubt that anybody on Slashdot is a paragon of healthy eating and frequent exercise.
4. Re:And in the future... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:34 · Score: 0
  
  I doubt that anybody on Slashdot is a paragon of healthy eating and frequent exercise.
  I am.
5. Re:And in the future... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:38 · Score: 0
  
  6'1", 200lbs, 14%BF
  365 Squat
  455 DL
  275 Bench
  185 OHP
  Your argument is invalid.
6. Re:And in the future... by Sparticus789 · 2012-09-04 07:39 · Score: 1
  
  This is not www.match.com
  Nobody cares how much you can lift.
  
  --
  sudo make me a sandwich
7. Re:And in the future... by Githaron · 2012-09-04 07:41 · Score: 1
  
  More likely that they will start making motorized, bipedal "wheelchairs" that can go anywhere a human can walk including stairs.
8. Re:And in the future... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 08:00 · Score: 0
  
  They simply lack the motivation to get out of their chairs.
9. Re:And in the future... by crakbone · 2012-09-04 08:03 · Score: 1
  
  This looks like a cheap copy of the Japanese HAL suit. http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/robotsuithal/ The HAL suit uses nerve control and seems like it would work much better than this unit. Even if you had to train new nerves to control it.
10. Re:And in the future... by Firehed · 2012-09-04 08:05 · Score: 1
  
  *woosh*
  
  --
  How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
11. Re:And in the future... by mapkinase · 2012-09-04 08:07 · Score: 1
  
  >Won't be long before lazy fat people are using these just because they don't feel like using their own muscles to move their limbs.
  As one of those, I testify that it cannot happen soon enough.
  
  --
  I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
12. Re:And in the future... by fm6 · 2012-09-04 08:10 · Score: 1
  
  Huh? I never said I was bulked. I'm pretty much the standard Slashdotter who spends too much time on the couch (which is where I am now).
  I do seem to be resistant to putting on weight, despite a semi-crappy diet and desultory exercise. But that's a physiological quirk, not a moral achievement.
13. Re:And in the future... by Sparticus789 · 2012-09-04 08:17 · Score: 1
  
  Not directed at you, at Mr. AC over there. It's a miracle he has enough time to read /. when he is so busy staring at himself in the mirror grunting.
  
  --
  sudo make me a sandwich
14. Re:And in the future... by bitt3n · 2012-09-04 08:34 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Won't be long before lazy fat people are using these just because they don't feel like using their own muscles to move their limbs. Happened with the mobility scooters, it'll happen with these suits.
  step one: get them addicted to motor control suit. step two: distribute virus to suits that locks in wearer and prevents him from eating anything but celery.
  
  --
  how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?
15. Re:And in the future... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 08:38 · Score: 0
  
  I was at Disneyland a couple of years ago, and I saw several families taking turns on scooters to take a break from walking, and using it to bypass some of the lines by using the "wheelchair" lane.
16. Re:And in the future... by mcgrew · 2012-09-04 08:42 · Score: 2
  
  Won't be long before lazy fat people are using these just because they don't feel like using their own muscles to move their limbs
  I feel sorry for fat people. It's not laziness, how would you like to have to lift 350 pounds just to get off off the couch? Plus, they usually get problems with their joints wearing out from carrying all that weight.
  Obesity is a health problem, and laughing at someone's health problems, whether it be morbid obesity, insanity, or cancer, is the mark of a heartless jerk.
  I'm just damned glad I'm skinny. I can't gain weight if I try.
  
  --
  Free Martian Whores!
17. Re:And in the future... by fm6 · 2012-09-04 09:05 · Score: 1
  
  My mistake (grunt).
18. Re:And in the future... by Gordonjcp · 2012-09-04 09:25 · Score: 1
  
  See, I don't think I get a lot of exercise, although I try to get out for a few miles on my bike a couple of times a week (to the pub and back). Then I realised that quite a lot of my job involves carrying 10m scaff poles up 24-storey buildings, and other such bits of steelwork. Even the radio gear I work with is heavy, and tends to need carried up many flights of stairs.
  It would probably make a bodybuilder explode from the sheer blood pressure rise, if their hearts were up to it.
19. Re:And in the future... by Hognoxious · 2012-09-04 09:28 · Score: 1
  
  Skynet will never need to launch the missiles.
  Those scooters are a bloody nuisance (and in the UK are apparently totally above the law) but if you can see them coming & can get up a kerb you're safe.... for now.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
20. Re:And in the future... by fm6 · 2012-09-04 09:30 · Score: 2
  
  I don't usually care about getting modded down. But there's something extremely sad about getting multiple Flamebait mods for pointing out that somebody's an ignorant bigot.
21. Re:And in the future... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 09:38 · Score: 0
  
  All the people I've seen using mobility scooters actually had physical problems that made assistance necessary.
  
  I remember being at a restaurant one time and there were three of these bastarding Davros lookalikes - with oxygen bottles to boot - and each of them stuffed down more fucking food than my entire family. And despite it being the non smoking section they got through at least a pack between them.
  Lazy greedy fat fucking smelly lardbastards.
22. Re:And in the future... by somersault · 2012-09-04 09:39 · Score: 1
  
  I doubt that anybody on Slashdot is a paragon of healthy eating and frequent exercise.
  Doubt away, but you're wrong :)
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
23. Re:And in the future... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 09:43 · Score: 0
  
  Not every slashdotter is American you know.
24. Re:And in the future... by Hognoxious · 2012-09-04 10:16 · Score: 1
  
  how would you like to have to lift 350 pounds just to get off off the couch?
  It's a fact of physics that ceteris paribus it takes 1% more energy to lift 1% more weight.
  Thus it would imply that at a certain point it would balance out and taper towards an asymptote.
  For me, the limit is around 17-and-a-half of our Limey stone. That's nearly 250 of your colonial pounds, over 110 eurocommie kilos. This was at a point where I was eating something with meat in it and some kind of fried potatoes twice a day, plus at least a gallon of beer. I lived this lifestyle for a year and a half, and having hit that weight about six months in it didn't go up.
  But then I didn't have a car at that time, so I walked and cycled a bit. Not exactly training, but still being at least moderately active.
  Towards the end of the assignment, someone started a swimming club. Two lunchtimes a week, we'd eat just a sandwich and go to the pool. Bam, lost over a stone in less than a month - back down to college weight.
  Perhaps the reason people become too fat to get off the couch is because they never get off the couch?
  P.S. I'm only 5 foot 9. Always been stocky. Now I'm a bit below 200 pounds, close to what I was at 14 - and I certainly wasn't fat back then.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
25. Re:And in the future... by frosty_tsm · 2012-09-04 10:21 · Score: 1
  
  Won't be long before lazy fat people are using these just because they don't feel like using their own muscles to move their limbs
  I feel sorry for fat people. It's not laziness, how would you like to have to lift 350 pounds just to get off off the couch? Plus, they usually get problems with their joints wearing out from carrying all that weight.
  Obesity is a health problem, and laughing at someone's health problems, whether it be morbid obesity, insanity, or cancer, is the mark of a heartless jerk.
  I'm just damned glad I'm skinny. I can't gain weight if I try.
  People generally don't laugh at people who have health problems that stuck them in a mobility scooter.
  
  However, when you see someone grabbing a 5 gallon tub to put in the basket you might stop thinking that it's not their fault. For many who are overweight, walking is the gateway exercise and they've stopped doing that.
26. Re:And in the future... by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2012-09-04 10:41 · Score: 1
  
  I taught a spin class at lunch today, so I'm getting a YOU CAN DO IT! PUSH YOUR LIMITS! out of your replies.
  
  --
  
  ---
  ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
27. Re:And in the future... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 11:08 · Score: 0
  
  "All the people I've seen using mobility scooters actually had physical problems that made assistance necessary. "
  George Costanza had no physical problems.
28. Re:And in the future... by Abreu · 2012-09-04 11:18 · Score: 1
  
  I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter...
  
  --
  No sig for the moment.
29. Re:And in the future... by fm6 · 2012-09-04 11:33 · Score: 2
  
  I simply do not get stationary bikes. Has to be the most boring exercise possible.
30. Re:And in the future... by fm6 · 2012-09-04 11:37 · Score: 1
  
  OK, who wasted a mod point on this post, when the could have modded up the post I was talking about?
31. Re:And in the future... by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2012-09-04 11:38 · Score: 1
  
  Sure, if you sit down at the stationary bike and ride it for 30 minutes, it's kind of boring.
  If you get into a spin / freewheeling class, the right instructor can make it a lot more fun and it's a better experience in a group.
  Sure, you're still riding a stationary bike, but it's not the same as going for a bike ride. Same muscle groups, but you're at a hilariously high pace. It has made my daily bike ride quite a bit easier.
  
  --
  
  ---
  ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
32. Re:And in the future... by Apothem · 2012-09-04 13:32 · Score: 1
  
  Your statement is invalid, you actually pay attention to these things.
33. Re:And in the future... by SourceFrog · 2012-09-04 13:43 · Score: 1
  
  "All the people you've seen"? Wow, that must constitute almost everyone on the whole planetedy planet!!1!
  
  --
  My other UID is three digits.
34. Re:And in the future... by fm6 · 2012-09-04 13:54 · Score: 1
  
  And exactly how many people have you seen who were riding scooters, but obviously didn't need them?
35. Re:And in the future... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 15:17 · Score: 0
  
  I don't usually care about getting modded down. But there's something extremely sad about getting multiple Flamebait mods for pointing out that somebody's an ignorant bigot.
  You're mis-using the word bigot for starters. The other reason being that you're insulting the parent for making a perfectly valid statement, yet failing to offer any actual supporting argument for why your opinion is somehow more valid. Yes, many people have a physical need for a scooter. But what you failed to consider is WHY they have such a need. The parent was alluding to the fact that at any WalMart in the country you will find a very obese person using one of those scooters. Being a disgusting fatbody isn't a medical condition, it's a result of poor choices, bad eating habits, and lack of proper exercise. And yes, you do deserve to have shit talked about you, just like the kid with the crazy colored hair and the crackhead with his missing teeth and complexion problems.
36. Re:And in the future... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 15:29 · Score: 0
  
  Obesity is a health problem, and laughing at someone's health problems, whether it be morbid obesity, insanity, or cancer, is the mark of a heartless jerk.
  No. Obesity is not caused by a health problem, it's caused by your lifestyle and choices you make, however once you become obese then yes that's a health issue. But the problem isn't the fat. That's like saying that being hooked on crack is a health problem- maybe so, but it's still your fault you're a crackhead and nothing will change as long as you keep smoking the shit.
  
  I feel sorry for fat people. It's not laziness, how would you like to have to lift 350 pounds just to get off off the couch?
  I wouldn't. That's why I make sure that I use physical activity to offset my food intake, and avoid cramming large amounts of grease and fat into my gullet.
  Ever seen some huge whale of a person get that stomach bypass surgery? Guess how that works... it makes your stomach smaller so you can't eat as much. And it really works well for many people. I work with a lady who stood at 5 foot 3 inches and was tipping the scales at over 400 pounds, she's down to 175 now and doing great. But you can get the same result by cutting down the amount of food you eat, cutting soda and snack foods out of your diet, etc. The surgery is for people like her who just couldn't stop eating until she was full. But then we have a guy who was in a similar situation, dropped about 300 pounds, and has re-gained about 200 of it again because he ignored the doctor and kept his same eating habits... and now his stomach is stretching once again.
  But nobody can defeat the laws of thermodynamics. If energy input into your body is less than energy expended, you WILL lose weight. It's not a "medical condition".
37. Re:And in the future... by lxs · 2012-09-04 20:16 · Score: 1
  
  How would you like to have to lift 350 pounds just to get off off the couch?
  I wouldn't. That's why I exercise my willpower to combat my primal urges.
38. Re:And in the future... by Sulphur · 2012-09-04 21:24 · Score: 1
  
  See, I don't think I get a lot of exercise, although I try to get out for a few miles on my bike a couple of times a week (to the pub and back). Then I realised that quite a lot of my job involves carrying 10m scaff poles up 24-storey buildings, and other such bits of steelwork. Even the radio gear I work with is heavy, and tends to need carried up many flights of stairs.
  It would probably make a bodybuilder explode from the sheer blood pressure rise, if their hearts were up to it.
  They are on the ground directing traffic.
39. Re:And in the future... by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 00:12 · Score: 1
  
  Got any pics, you gorgeous hunk of spunk? They don't have to be clothed, we're not shy here!
  
  PS what's a 14% boyfriend? Do you mean 14 inches?
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
40. Re:And in the future... by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 00:14 · Score: 1
  
  Why in the name of Saint Fuck of What The is this being modded as flamebait?
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
41. Re:And in the future... by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 00:20 · Score: 1
  
  I simply do not get stationary bikes. Has to be the most boring exercise possible.
  No, that's swimming. At least on a stationary bike you can check out the hot babes/hunks around you. In a swimming pool it's just a blue blur, until you hit your head on the wall at each turn.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
42. Re:And in the future... by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 00:28 · Score: 1
  
  I'm just damned glad I'm skinny. I can't gain weight if I try
  I bet if you stayed in bed for a couple of months eating nothing but steaks and buckets of pasta and drinking a couple of gallons of beer a day you would.
  
  You're just not trying hard enough.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
43. Re:And in the future... by GNious · 2012-09-05 04:03 · Score: 1
  
  Listen to some music, look up at babes around you, afterwards go to sauna with said babes ... Swimming is kinda nice.
44. Re:And in the future... by mcgrew · 2012-09-05 04:23 · Score: 1
  
  Always been stocky. Now I'm a bit below 200 pounds, close to what I was at 14 - and I certainly wasn't fat back then.
  
  That's the thing -- people have different metabolisms. The only time I ever gained weight was when I was on Paxil for a couple of years and gained 40 pounds. The stuff really lowered my metabolism and increased my appetite, and I was doing a lot of waling then, much more than before or after. I'm not so sure that obesity is the fat person's fault. Someone else could be cursed in the opposite way I've been blessed.
  and I certainly wasn't fat back then.
  
  Back when I was in the Air Force they instituted a "fat boy" program. If you were above a certain weight for your height they would put you out with a general discharge. One guy I was stationed with got tagged with this, a career man. But he was certainly not fat -- the guy was a weightlifter who probably didn't have two pounds of fat in his whole body. He got to stay in by eating nothing for two days, and drinking only beer and coffee to get rid of water weight. He lost enough water to stay in the service.
  Of course, since then they've come up with BMI.
  
  --
  Free Martian Whores!
45. Re:And in the future... by GameboyRMH · 2012-09-05 05:57 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder why nobody's ever made a videogame addon for those things to make them more fun. All it would take is a tach and a couple buttons for steering to plug into an old laptop or something.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Stood up at the bar by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:15 · Score: 1

"One of the best experiences was standing at a bar," she said. "To be stood up in this means everything to me."
Who knew being stood up at a bar could be so gratifying? If only I had known this the last 5 times I've been stood up...
1. Re:Stood up at the bar by udachny · 2012-09-04 07:18 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, but you don't have a robotic suit to crash whoever stood you up. She, on the other hand, does.
  
  --
  MY OTHER COMMENTS
2. Re:Stood up at the bar by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:20 · Score: 0
  
  "Sometimes I like to watch.". That line completely creeped me out at the time and stuck in my head.
3. Re:Stood up at the bar by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:41 · Score: 0
  
  I loved that line for the way it reminded the reader that while a mobility apparatus can negate the most visible effects of a disability it can not often eliminate disparity.
4. Re:Stood up at the bar by trevc · 2012-09-04 07:51 · Score: 1
  
  Bad English. She was trying to say "To be standing up in this means everything to me"...
5. Re:Stood up at the bar by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:55 · Score: 0
  
  "Sometimes I like to watch." Is a quote from Leis in the short story The Winter Market by William Gibson. Leis is fully paralyzed, get's around by means of an exoskeleton, and speaks those words with regards to sex.
6. Re:Stood up at the bar by trevc · 2012-09-04 07:59 · Score: 1
  
  and Peter Sellers as Chancy had the same line in Being There.
7. Re:Stood up at the bar by PPH · 2012-09-04 08:04 · Score: 1
  
  You had to bring that character up near election time, didn't you?
  
  --
  Have gnu, will travel.
8. Re:Stood up at the bar by fiannaFailMan · 2012-09-04 08:22 · Score: 1
  
  Bad English. She was trying to say "To be standing up in this means everything to me"...
  "Bad" English is a point of view. Many northern English dialects use "I am stood" instead of "I am standing" or "I am sat" instead of "I am sitting".
  
  --
  Drill baby drill - on Mars
9. Re:Stood up at the bar by trevc · 2012-09-04 09:00 · Score: 1
  
  Love that movie - and Wag the Dog. Hard to believe it was 33 years ago that Being There was released. Man, I am getting old.....
10. Re:Stood up at the bar by Hognoxious · 2012-09-04 10:23 · Score: 1
  
  Well that's happen as mebbe, but they're still ig-piggerant. And I should know, I is one of 'em, not a chuffin' bog-trotter like you.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
11. Re:Stood up at the bar by blackest_k · 2012-09-04 12:45 · Score: 1
  
  maybe stood is the right word, for a person without a suit they would be standing, she has been stood up by the suit. a brush might be stood against the wall. Wouldn't standing be a verb at the bar and stood be an adjective, (something describing an aspect of a noun).
  For northern folk being stood (adjective) at the bar and drinking (verb) is quite normal behaviour , for southerners they might be sat around a table sipping their wine in between tales of how uncouth the northern chaps are.
  
  --
  Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
12. Re:Stood up at the bar by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 00:48 · Score: 1
  
  FWIW, most pub jokes take the form "there was a man stood at the bar..."
  
  Now, take my mother-in-law....No, really, please take my mother-in-law.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
No Images by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:22 · Score: 0

Article has no images. Pics, or it didn't happen.
1. Re:No Images by f3rret · 2012-09-04 07:34 · Score: 1
  
  Look up-
  
  --
  Admit nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.
2. Re:No Images by LuxuryYacht · 2012-09-04 07:46 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  A Pic is here:
  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/uk-paraplegic-woman-first-to-take-robotic-suit-home/article4517848/?cmpid=rss1
  
  --
  Quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur
3. Re:No Images by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 00:51 · Score: 1
  
  In a refreshing change from the normal staged "wow our product is awesome" PR photos, the effect here is somewhat muted by the fact that she has (a) two walking sticks and (b) someone behind holding her up.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Wrong Story by fm6 · 2012-09-04 07:24 · Score: 1

It's been a long time since I read "Winter Market" but from what I remember it's about uploading consciousness, not cyborg augmentation for the paralyzed. John Varley's "Blue Champagne" seems to be much more relevant.
1. Re:Wrong Story by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:38 · Score: 1
  
  That is indeed what the story is about, but that's why I note this as step one. I am the AC who submitted the article by the way. Leis the protagonist of the story is indeed fully paralyzed and uses an exoskeleton for mobility 24/7, which is the source of much of the conflict in Gibson's tale. It's a plot device in a way that humanizes what (at the time) was a very far flung idea. The story does indeed culminate in the uploading of consciousness.
2. Re:Wrong Story by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:45 · Score: 0
  
  It's been a long time since I read "Winter Market" but from what I remember it's about uploading consciousness, not cyborg augmentation for the paralyzed. John Varley's "Blue Champagne" seems to be much more relevant.
  Or the TV Series MANTIS
3. Re:Wrong Story by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 15:34 · Score: 0
  
  That is indeed what the story is about, but that's why I note this as step one. I am the AC who submitted the article by the way. Leis the protagonist of the story is indeed fully paralyzed and uses an exoskeleton for mobility 24/7, which is the source of much of the conflict in Gibson's tale. It's a plot device in a way that humanizes what (at the time) was a very far flung idea. The story does indeed culminate in the uploading of consciousness.
  The sad part is that this Step 1 of yours should have happened back in the late 80's or early 90's, but everyone poo-poo'd robotics and computers and said it was bullshit that would never happen, and that I watched Aliens too many times.
  This is encouraging, don't get me wrong, but I don't really see it as a major breakthrough. We're still using the idea of flexing one set of muscles to simulate another, in this case by using balance and leaning. I'll be impressed when the first consumer-level model which is controlled by scanning the brain is released, and then more impressed when we get to the direct nerve-machine interfaces which allow it to be used directly as an extension of the body. Both are coming, and both are overdue.
4. Re:Wrong Story by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 00:54 · Score: 1
  
  The sad part is that this Step 1 of yours should have happened back in the late 80's or early 90's, but everyone poo-poo'd robotics and computers and said it was bullshit that would never happen, and that I watched Aliens too many times.
  People didn't "poo-poo robotics and computers" they just couldn't get them to work very well . There have been a lot of advances in both in the last twenty five years.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
45,000 Pounds? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:25 · Score: 2, Funny

Why does it weigh so much?
1. Re:45,000 Pounds? by Sparticus789 · 2012-09-04 07:40 · Score: 1
  
  What a divvy.
  
  --
  sudo make me a sandwich
2. Re:45,000 Pounds? by Githaron · 2012-09-04 07:43 · Score: 1
  
  I hope you are joking.
3. Re:45,000 Pounds? by wonkey_monkey · 2012-09-04 09:02 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder if the GP's just having a go (poorly) at the writer for using "45,000 pounds," which you never really see in written British English. We have this nifty little £ symbol for such occasions.
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
4. Re:45,000 Pounds? by eastlight_jim · 2012-09-04 10:02 · Score: 1
  
  Random off-topic trivia: £ on a standard British keyboard layout is reached by shift+3 - all the more confusing when referring to the pound sign with someone using an American keyboard layout as the convention is to call the # symbol a pound sign and it too is shift+3.
5. Re:45,000 Pounds? by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2012-09-04 10:44 · Score: 1
  
  Battery pack.
  
  --
  
  ---
  ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
6. Re:45,000 Pounds? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 15:41 · Score: 0
  
  Random off-topic trivia: £ on a standard British keyboard layout is reached by shift+3 - all the more confusing when referring to the pound sign with someone using an American keyboard layout as the convention is to call the # symbol a pound sign and it too is shift+3.
  I live in the US and I learned it as the "sharp" sign because I'm a musician. In school they called it the "pound" sign because of typing class, and the exclamation mark was referred to as the "bang" symbol. Most commonly in classes it was referred to as the "number sign", and I don't think we ever used # to represent pounds (weight) or Pounds (currency). Anyhow, modern usage is as a "hashtag" so maybe that will become the prevailing definition and remove the confusion.
7. Re:45,000 Pounds? by wonkey_monkey · 2012-09-04 22:42 · Score: 1
  
  I don't think we ever used # to represent pounds (weight)
  That was its origin - it came from "lb" with a line through it.
  "!" is/was a "pling" to me, for computing purposes (RISC OS treats directories beginning with ! as applications - double clicking executes the !Run file inside) and $ is "string".
  All hail the interrobang!
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
8. Re:45,000 Pounds? by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 00:56 · Score: 1
  
  I hope you are joking.
  I hope you are joking that you weren't sure he was joking.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
One step closer to wall-e fat carriers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:41 · Score: 0

I predict a world where all the fatties use these devices instead of the carts they use now.
1. Re:One step closer to wall-e fat carriers by Sulphur · 2012-09-04 21:54 · Score: 1
  
  I predict a world where all the fatties use these devices instead of the carts they use now.
  Like a line of Exo's instead of carts at Kroger and Wal-Mart?
This thread is useless without pics by jfengel · 2012-09-04 07:49 · Score: 3, Informative

For anybody who wants to see what the thing looks like, there were numerous pictures from when she "ran" the London Marathon.
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/898507-paralysed-claire-lomas-completes-london-marathon-in-bionic-suit
(Not exactly running, since it took 17 days, but it's still a hell of a feat. One that deserves a few freaking pictures.)
1. Re:This thread is useless without pics by AAWood · 2012-09-04 08:28 · Score: 1
  
  She also has a youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/clairelom) with some videos of in in motion. One of these says it's blocked by a TV channel that own the copyright, hmm....
2. Re:This thread is useless without pics by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 09:14 · Score: 0
  
  TWO MILES A DAY! So thats like a mile every eight hours or like 600 feet per hour or 10 feet per minute. Nice for stairs but I think I will stay with the wheelchair if I get disabled. My math must be off.
3. Re:This thread is useless without pics by Hognoxious · 2012-09-04 10:27 · Score: 1
  
  Not wishing to denigrate her or her achievement in any way, but I'm sure most people reading that article had a question spring to mind, and that question involved weeing.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
4. Re:This thread is useless without pics by jfengel · 2012-09-05 08:58 · Score: 1
  
  I assume she didn't run continuously. She ran a few miles a day, then rested. I assume she peed then.
  I can tell you as a marathon runner, though, that a lot of runners who don't want to wait for the porta johns just drop trou and let fly. Many men, and a surprising number of women.
  Most of them stop running first, though a few at the front don't care what they smell like and they'll be done in a couple of hours anyway. They'll take a shower and change after they get the prize money. But that's a few people up front, not the 20,000+ people behind them. We stop, momentarily.
Just to point out.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 07:54 · Score: 0

Just wanted to point out that our socialist heath system in the UK will give these to patients in the UK for free if they're shown to be of cost-effective benefit - man I love the first world!
It's the wrong trousers, Gromit! by Chris+Mattern · 2012-09-04 07:59 · Score: 5, Funny

And they've gone wrong!
Related information: France. by mangobrain · 2012-09-04 08:06 · Score: 1

I thought I'd take a gamble on this one, and actually read TFA - even before reading the comments. I thought there would be a nice picture or two, maybe a few links to pages about the device itself. But you know what I got instead?
France.
No pictures, no related links at the end, and only one word in the entire article itself turned into a link - the word "France."
Tooltip? "Full coverage of France."
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
ReWalk2.0 by jovius · 2012-09-04 08:06 · Score: 0

The comedy when some future model suddenly goes into the fucking mode in public. Anyway - great stuff!
Huh? by Hognoxious · 2012-09-04 09:11 · Score: 1

It might be a ways off
Forsooth brother, art thou an Amish?

--
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
First exoskelton taken home? No. First ReWalk, yes by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 10:28 · Score: 0

See www.rexbionics.com
Two units have been taken home by customers.
Bad idea by formfeed · 2012-09-04 10:45 · Score: 2

Quoting Reuters: 'The exoskeleton is activated by the wearer tilting their balance to indicate the desire to take a step.
So if you stand atop a cliff and look down, the thing takes a step forward?
Nice.
Didn't the owner of Segway die exactly this way?
1. Re:Bad idea by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 01:09 · Score: 2
  
  Quoting Reuters: 'The exoskeleton is activated by the wearer tilting their balance to indicate the desire to take a step.
  So if you stand atop a cliff and look down, the thing takes a step forward? Nice.
  Didn't the owner of Segway die exactly this way?
  There is a very simple way of getting round that potentially fatal flaw: just don't stand right on the edge of a fucking cliff.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Pictures? by loufoque · 2012-09-04 10:51 · Score: 1

Why can't we see the exoskeleton in question?
Not first! by brianmy · 2012-09-04 11:08 · Score: 1

This man was the first in the world to take home his own robotic exoskeleton (as far as I am aware) :
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/02/new-zealand-paralympian-buys-first-rex-bionics-exoskeleton-take
And this man was the second :
http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/04/meet-robobrogan-londons-bionic-man/
Here's another by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 13:42 · Score: 0

Not a full exoskeleton though:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/08/3d-printed-magic-arms-give-a-little-girl-use-of-her-limbs/
Whatever the Air Force tells you... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 14:36 · Score: 0

I am Ironman
Pro tip by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-04 22:34 · Score: 0

Don't get to far away from a power charging point. If you can't walk without the 'suit', you aren't going to be able to carry its dead weight to the power point.
1. Re:Pro tip by tehcyder · 2012-09-05 01:12 · Score: 1
  
  Don't get to far away from a power charging point. If you can't walk without the 'suit', you aren't going to be able to carry its dead weight to the power point.
  No, it's OK, you can just swap the suit's battery for the one in your iPhone.
  
  Oh, wait...
  
  I blame Apple for the inevitable carnage.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Function by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-05 01:12 · Score: 0

The exoskeleton is activated by the wearer tilting their balance to indicate the desire to take a step
Man, imagine the bars. A tipsy stagger will result in a robotic exoskeleton taking mighty, aimless steps. St. Patrick's Day will look like a zombie movie convention.