British Woman Becomes First Person To Don A Robotic Power Suit For Life


Claire Lomas is an extraordinary woman. She is paralysed from the chest down, but amazingly that didn’t stop her from completing the gruelling London marathon in 17 days with the help of a robotic exoskeleton. Now, she’s become the first person in history to take home a power suit for everyday living. Even though she can’t walk unaided, she can now climb stairs and — most importantly — stand at the bar to get a schooner.

The marathon walk Lomas completed in April was a hell of a beta test for the machine, which up until that point was still in trials. This is the first time a suit has been given to a disabled patient for full-time usage, and marks a major step forward for power suit technology. Next stop: Iron Man.

It’s hoped that quite a few wheelchair users could be equipped with the suit to take them out and about, which would be fantastic. But I still can’t help but think how good it would be to have one of these power suits for myself, maybe in hot-rod red and orange.

Imagine being able to lift vast weights, or leap tall buildings in a single bound. OK, we’re not there just yet, but one can dream, right? [Reuters]

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