While there were a lot of gizmos, gadgets and other electronic what not at this year’s CES in Las Vegas, one item stole the show. At that item was the Ekso Bionics exoskeleton.
According to Forbes, “Demonstrating the motorized harness was Paul Thacker – a paraplegic who fractured his 5th Thoracic Vertebra (T5) during a snowmobile accident in 2010. Paul first walked using the Ekso Bionics exoskeleton within 8 months of his injury.
“It takes about two minutes for Paul to gear up for a walk – and about one minute to climb out of the harness and back into his wheel chair. Once standing, he only uses the crutches as balance points. It’s still relatively cumbersome (for those of us with no impaired mobility), but he is most definitely walking (with motorized assistance from the exoskeleton). The direction today is forward only (no reverse), and turning (either left or right) at sharp angles is the highest technical and physical challenge.”
When high tech empowers people and changes lives one can only give it two thumbs way up in the air.
One Response to “Exoskeleton at CES Steals the Show”
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i want an exoskeleton!