Paralyzed Man Walks Again Using Exoskeleton 192
dominique_cimafranca notes a story up at the Daily Mail in the UK about a partially paralyzed man who is able to walk again using an exoskeleton frame. The article goes a bit far in comparing the device to Robocop, but it does show pictures of the man, paralyzed for the last 20 years, regaining some use of his legs. Quoting: "The device, called ReWalk, is the brainchild of engineer Amit Goffer, founder of Argo Medical Technologies, a small Israeli high-tech company. Something of a mix between the exoskeleton of a crustacean and the suit worn by Robocop, ReWalk helps paraplegics — people paralyzed below the waist — to stand, walk and climb stairs. The system, which requires crutches to help with balance, consists of motorized leg supports, body sensors and a back pack containing a computerized control box and rechargeable batteries."
omg Robocop (Score:5, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Neat, but... (Score:4, Funny)
Does it run Linux?
Now if they made it (Score:4, Funny)
sounds like a terminator unit when it walks, we ahve a winner.
Re:Neat, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, but (Score:5, Funny)
can he do the robot?
Re:omg Robocop (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Stairs? (Score:5, Funny)
People said that about the Daleks too.
Re:omg Robocop (Score:4, Funny)
Relief for my hand ahead!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Neat, but... (Score:5, Funny)
And my name isn't Linux.
Interesting observation (Score:4, Funny)
Anybody else notice the pictures of the person in the exo-suit (save robocop) are taken at wheelchair-height?
Hmm
Re:Neat, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Does it run Linux?
Considering that he didn't have to type furiously at each step, I imagine not.
Re:omg Robocop (Score:3, Funny)
Re:omg Robocop (Score:3, Funny)
Have you seen this chicken? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Neat, but... (Score:3, Funny)
Imagine a beowulf cluster of...
omg! Attack of the clones!
Steven Hawking's Exoskeleton Is Cooler (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Neat, but... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Next, Effort to Duplicate the EYE. (Score:3, Funny)
And the day we figure out how to safely power cars with blood, we solve the problems of dependence on foreign energy AND overpopulation!
Re:Neat, but... (Score:3, Funny)
Ah, yes, for the ability to type furiously for a moment followed by a headlong rush into a wall.
Re:Next, Effort to Duplicate the EYE. (Score:3, Funny)
and also to "see" things like a drinking glass and reach out and grab it.
Seems like that might not be such a good idea with all that hardware in your mouth, unless you drink it with your eye.
Re:omg Robocop $6M Man? But, Steve Austin (Score:2, Funny)
will NOT BE THAT MAN....
In Israel, that product may be CALLED "ReWalk", but in the US, it will probably mean "NO FLY".
That chair says, "Quicky", and that makes all sorts of things come to mind. I wonder what kind of "charge" the chair position offers. Quick-charge?
And, to need crutches to balance... why not just build servo-gyro circular/shaft motors (which, hopefully won't burn out every 5,000 steps) to dispense with the crutches. Now, if the crutches are a cover story for machine guns....
Well, Machine Girl has that beat...
http://www.horror-movies.ca/horror-movie.php?id=6678 [horror-movies.ca]
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1072131/machine_gun_breasts/ [metacafe.com]
http://www.movierapture.com/machinegirl.htm [movierapture.com]
http://inventorspot.com/articles/bizarre_breast_massage_robot_rea_11148 [inventorspot.com]
Re:omg Robocop (Score:3, Funny)
In today's dollars, that'd be what, $2500? I think it's gonna need more than that.
Re:Relief for my hand ahead!!! (Score:5, Funny)
What would happen to you if you flew into the US and the customs agents wanted to confiscate your cybernetic limb to analyze as they can do now with your laptops and other electronic devices? What recourse would you have to prevent such thing?
Crush their skulls?
You can have my cold dead hands when you pry them from my cybernetic body!
WTF!? (Score:2, Funny)
WTF is wrong with you people? 77 comments and no "I for one" joke? That's the only reason I even read the article.
Fine, guess I'll have to do it.
I for one welcome our new paralyzed, powered exoskeleton-
Oh fucking forget it already. You people make me sick. This place used to mean something.
Re:Now if they made it (Score:3, Funny)
Wow, that's a lot of franchises mixed in there, A company named Cyberdyne creating an exoskeleton from [insert anime name here] called Hal piloted by what appears to be a Vulcan.