Exoskeletons for paralysed people

We talked about exoskeltons earlier before and we mainly talked about the usage of exoskeletons for work like the army of other work which can be a hard for our human body. But exoskeletons are also a solution for people who are paralysed. Just have a look at the former Israeli paratrooper Radi Kaiof. For 20 years paralysed and now able to walk.

I never dreamed I would walk again. After I was wounded, I forgot what it's like. Only when standing up can I feel how tall I really am and speak to people eye to eye, not from below

The technology/device which makes this all possible is called Rewalk and is founded engineer Amit Goffer, founder of Argo Medical Technologies (Israel). Goffer himself is also paralysed. The Rewalk technology consists of motorised robotic legs, body sensors and a back pack with rechargeable batteries and a computer. For now the users have to use crutches to help with keeping in balance. But I believe this will soon be a thing of the past. The user can move by picking a setting with a remote control wrist band. There are several options like stand, sit, walk etc.. To really set the robotic legs into motion the user has to lean forward and activate the body sensors. For now Rewalk is still in trial in Sheba Medical Centre (Tel Aviv's) but it shows again how far we are in using robotic technologies for human advances. The exoskeletons we know are not usable for paralyzed people.

HAL and other exoskeletons are usually aimed at boosting the strength of fully mobile people, such as soldiers carrying heavy loads or elderly people with failing strength

Rewalk will become commercially available in 2010. When you want one you probably will have to save some extra money because the price will be round 20.000 dollar. Looking at the future I believe that we will see more developments like Rewalk and robotics which will merge with our human bodies.