paraplegics

Science

Video: Exoskeleton Helps Paralysed Man Walk For First Time In Twenty Years

10:40AM Matt Hickey | One of the coolest realms of technology currently transitioning from Sci-Fi to practical is that of exoskeletons. Above is an astonishing video of one such device in action, a medical model that helps a quadriplegic man walk for the first time in twenty years. The exoskeletons are still in development, with the one in the video a prototype that’s about to undergo US trials. If this is what an early model can do, can you imagine where we’ll be in ten years with the technology? Here’s hoping the FDA finds a way to speed these through approval. [Medgadget] More »
Gadgets

ReWalk Exoskeleton Leaves T So Speechless He Can’t Finish the Headline

11:00PM Addy Dugdale | Now, if you’re a superhuman hero gold chain on legs like me, you don’t need this ReWalk exo-skeleton. But there’s plenty of people out there who do, such as paraplegics who need to be taught to walk again. Here’s the jibber-jabber: Israeli company Taga designed it for Argo Technologies and it uses SolidWorks’ 3D CAD software. Doctors and stuff are testing it at the moment and the ReWalk should be available by 2009, which can only be a good thing. Plenty guys I knew in Vietnam ended up in wheelchairs, shot by bullets that maimed. Why we didn’t use magic A-Team bullets over there is just beyond me. [MedGadget] More »