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Cheap At $40,000: Phoenix Exoskeleton Gives Paraplegics Legs to Walk With

Posted by timothy on from the beats-the-alternative dept.

Fast Company highlights the cheap-for-the-price Phoenix exoskeleton, created by University of California Berkeley professor (and Berkeley Robotics and Human Engineering Laboratory director) Homayoon Kazerooni and a team of his former grad students at SuitX, a company Kazerooni founded in 2013. Set to sell for $40,000 when it goes on sale next month, the Phoenix sounds expensive -- except compared to the alternatives. For paraplegic patients, there are a handful of other powered exoskeletons, but they cost much more, and are engineered for more than the modest goals of the Phoenix, which allows only one thing: slow walking on level ground. That limited objective means that the rig is light (27 pounds), and relatively unobtrusive. Kazerooni says that he'd like the price to go down much further, too, noting that all the technology in a modern motorcyle can be had for the quarter of the price. A slice: [The] only driving motors in Phoenix are at the hip joints. When the user hits a forward button on their crutches, their left hip swings forward. At this moment, the onboard computer signals the knee to become loose, flex, and clear the ground. As the foot hits, the knee joint stiffens again to support the leg. This computer-choreographed process repeats for the right leg. As it happens, this hinged knee joint has another benefit. If the wearer hits something midstep, like a rock or a curb, a powered knee would blindly drive the leg forward anyway, likely leading to a fall. The hinge naturally absorbs such resistance and allows the wearer a chance to compensate.

37 comments

  1. Give it time by theprophetof+sarcasm · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just a few more years and they will have Olympic events and be running faster than non engineered humans!

    1. Re:Give it time by MFriis · · Score: 1

      We have actually been close for quite some time. Oscar Pistorius was at 21,30s @ 200 meters. WR is 19.19s His time is better than that of the women in the non paraolympics.

    2. Re:Give it time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Oscar Pistorius is a long, long way off being a paraplegic. There's no comparison between a paraplegic wearing a powered exoskeleton, which is what we're talking about here, and an amputee that runs under his own muscle power on passive prostheses.

    3. Re:Give it time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      runs under his own muscle power on passive prostheses.

      The word passive needs some clarification there. They aren't passive in that they just sit there doing thing but holding him up. They absorb kinetic energy and then release it...essentially a spring. So in a way, they do actively contribute to his movement. But yes, they aren't self powered.

    4. Re:Give it time by Dread_ed · · Score: 1

      Transhumanism is inevitable. Shortly after prosthetic performance exceeds human performance early adopters and those willing to push boundaries will opt-in to the technology. Acceptance is then just a few short generations away, all the while the state-of-the-art will continue to improve.

      Can you imagine a future baseball league with a F1 style technology homologation committee to normalize the performance of the athletes' augmentations? I can't wait! Unfortunately I probably won't live another 80-130 years to see it.

      --
      When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.
  2. $40000 ?!?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Chump change. I'll order two.

  3. $40K still a lot for most folks by rmdingler · · Score: 2
    Normally, the cost would continue to come down as more of these are manufactured, and in some cases when the R & D costs are recouped. ($100 VCR movie.)

    In this instance, it matters how large the target market is... hmmm, larger than I would've guessed.

    This 3D printing thing is really paying off. I hope to never need this technology's services, but it is really cool that there are folks working to improve it.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:$40K still a lot for most folks by MFriis · · Score: 1

      The price doesn't seem overly high compared to similiar products. A powered wheelchair easily costs between 6000$ and 10.000$. I reckon the competitiveness of that market is much greater than that of the exoskeleton. With a few competitors and some production facilities i can see this competing with wheelchairs within a few years.

    2. Re:$40K still a lot for most folks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is a medical device, which means that for most people, the cost should be covered to some extent by insurance, like wheelchairs.

      The article doesn't say anything about the battery life of the thing though, another article though states 4 hours continuous walking, 8 hours of intermittent walking, which is much better than I initially expected.

    3. Re:$40K still a lot for most folks by theprophetof+sarcasm · · Score: 1

      Give it time, our socialist government will subsidize it to make it more cost effective. Or Obama care with cover the difference.

    4. Re:$40K still a lot for most folks by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is a medical device, which means that for most people, the cost should be covered to some extent by insurance, like wheelchairs.

      In the US, even if you had a good job with health insurance, there is a great chance your private insurance is gone by the time you're rolling around in the chair.

      Now you're on Medicaid, and at the whim of the regulators as to whether you need something better than your chair. Experimental? Denied!

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    5. Re:$40K still a lot for most folks by del_diablo · · Score: 1

      The prime marked for this isn't for cripples, its for patents that will be useful down the line when exoskeletons mature a bit more. That and the fact it allows developed prototypes to be sold, and it will most likely be subsidized once it gets out of testing phase.

      Even then, its roughly in the price segment where these devices will end up: They will cost the same as good fresh cars. 2nd gen of these might go down to 30.000, but they won't be cheap because they are rather complicated technology.

    6. Re:$40K still a lot for most folks by arth1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Normally, the cost would continue to come down as more of these are manufactured, and in some cases when the R & D costs are recouped. ($100 VCR movie.)

      In this instance, it matters how large the target market is... [fscip.org] hmmm, larger than I would've guessed.

      As Mr. Schrekli has taught us, increased production can also lead to increased prices. As long as there either is a monopoly, or more customers than the cheapest producer can handle, there will be gouging.

      As for the price, $40k is not much. My hip implants cost around that much, not counting the surgery.
      And in my youth, I had $20k manual wheelchairs (adjusted for inflation).

    7. Re:$40K still a lot for most folks by arth1 · · Score: 1

      This is a medical device, which means that for most people, the cost should be covered to some extent by insurance, like wheelchairs.

      Except here in the US of A, where health insurance companies are sticklers and won't pay for expensive good products if inexpensive terrible products are available. If you see an American in a low-weight cambered wheelchair without handlebars, you can bet that he paid for it himself, because his insurance wouldn't.

    8. Re: $40K still a lot for most folks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Patent troll says no.

    9. Re:$40K still a lot for most folks by Cinnamon+Beige · · Score: 2

      And that's not going to actually change even if there's a switch to single-payer--and it might become hard to get your hands on 'something better' if the regulators decide that nobody needs it, if they've also any say in the approval process and/or your ability to import it from elsewhere.

    10. Re:$40K still a lot for most folks by hey! · · Score: 1

      The difference is what can be done about it.

      If the market decides that it's not important for people to have this, then the only way to change that is for the people who need it to somehow become rich. If the regulators decide people shouldn't have this, then the voters can change that. And if you factor in the increased independence and productivity of the recipients, it might not cost that much.

      Of course the way we do it now is we force employers to make accommodations. That's better than nothing, but statistically the public is still paying; the burden is just randomly concentrated on a few unlucky employers.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    11. Re:$40K still a lot for most folks by Cinnamon+Beige · · Score: 1

      The difference is what can be done about it.

      If the market decides that it's not important for people to have this, then the only way to change that is for the people who need it to somehow become rich. If the regulators decide people shouldn't have this, then the voters can change that. And if you factor in the increased independence and productivity of the recipients, it might not cost that much.

      Of course the way we do it now is we force employers to make accommodations. That's better than nothing, but statistically the public is still paying; the burden is just randomly concentrated on a few unlucky employers.

      Unless you're suggesting voting anarchist and/or libertarian, then voting can't do anything about the regulators. That's kind of the complaint about them, really: they are overall too well insulated from any people they harm for there to be the desirable feedback loop there. I've known quite a few people who left countries with single-payer systems because either they are their loved ones were considered by those running the heath care system to 'not really need' such things as a hip replacements or leukemia treatments.

      There's a greater chance of success with 'somehow become rich' than trying to change the regulators by voting.

      It's more likely to work if the market was free enough that voting with your feet--refusing to buy policies which don't cover things you consider important--was actually an option, but the US got to where it is because employers buy it for you and they as a third party don't generally have the same motivation as you do to care about your long-term health and welfare.

    12. Re:$40K still a lot for most folks by radarskiy · · Score: 1

      In what sort of fantasy land are you buying your private insurance where they *don't* reserve the right to deny your procedure or equipment... not even on the basis of their perceived need, but just on whether they can recover the cost before you die?

  4. This is amazing, but by HelpTheNewOverlord · · Score: 1

    It's an amazing product for paraplegic people, but is there something for people that walk but with pain(i.e knee problem)?

    I would love something like that for my grampa...

    1. Re:This is amazing, but by rmdingler · · Score: 1
      Yes. This is where developers will eventually be able monetize these products.

      Military injuries and a longer life expectancy are leading us toward a population of ready customers.

      The problem is still the pricing.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    2. Re:This is amazing, but by HelpTheNewOverlord · · Score: 1

      Oh, I had already seem that one. But if I search for it on google, I only find another type of waking assist(by honda too) is being leased. And that one doesn't help a lot with knee problems...

  5. Good and evil by Longjmp · · Score: 2

    This is great news for disabled people. Exoskeletons do more than the obvious: They give the wearer, being able to stand and walk again, more self-confidence, .

    My second thought however reveals my evil side:
    Imagine this thing has wireless access. If so, it can be hacked.
    Now picture some guy walking along a busy street with an exoskeleton, and me in a cafe nearby, seemingly playing "Frogger" on my laptop...

    --
    There are fewer illiterates than people who can't read.
    1. Re:Good and evil by mdm-adph · · Score: 1

      There is no reason why this thing should have wireless access. :P A hardwired port for firmware updates should be it.

      --
      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:Good and evil by Ranbot · · Score: 2

      Now picture some guy walking along a busy street with an exoskeleton, and me in a cafe nearby, seemingly playing "Frogger" on my laptop...

      You want to reenact of the Wallace and Gromit "The Wrong Trousers" episode.

    3. Re:Good and evil by Adriax · · Score: 1

      But, but, but... Cloud! IoT! Wearables!

      --
      I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
  6. Lieutenant Dan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You got magic legs!

  7. I, for one, welcome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    our new semi-robotic overlords...

    I cannot wait for the day when you could lose control or even lose completely all your limbs and still be able to function as well, if not better, then someone who still has all of theirs. I hope that I will never be in a position to require something like this but I still think that it would be extremely awesome to have them available. For me, the future is now when we have full automated vehicles, exoskeletons that can fully replace human flesh and AI that is smart enough to conduct theoretical research on its own...

  8. Re:You Americans have strange ideas of "cheap" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Try spinning that "cheap $40,000" crap to the majority of paraplegics in the rest of the world... oh yeah you aren't interested in those, just the people on Elysium.

    The people on "Elysium" have exoskeletons which interface directly with the brain and full sensory feedback capability. You don't have to push a button, you just walk like you would if you still had your limbs. That tech will only be released to the rest of us once they get their "magic heal everything bed" finished.

  9. Re:Slow walking on level ground by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Exactly the type of ground that a wheelchair is good for. This is a $40,000 wheelchair replacement. Legs are needed for climbing stairs, curbs, trees, kicking a ball, dancing, etc. The more expensive models actually do something useful. This model is like everything metal at Harbor Freight; great at the most basic of tasks, but anything else works better.

    Just getting the patient vertical for a few hours a day has important health benefits, both physical and psychological.