[tt] Human exoskeleton suit helps paralyzed people walk

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/lp279391-technology-paralysis/

Human exoskeleton suit helps paralyzed people walk

By Ari Rabinovitch
Posted 2008/08/26 at 1:15 pm EDT

HAIFA, Israel, Aug. 26, 2008 (Reuters) — paralyzed for the past 20 years,
former Israeli paratrooper Radi Kaiof now walks down the street with a dim
mechanical hum.

Radi Kaiof walks using an electronic exoskeleton at a development center in
the northern city of Haifa August 18, 2008. The device, called ReWalk, slated
for commercial sales in 2010, consists of motorised leg supports, body
sensors and a back pack containing a computerised control box and rechargable
batteries. It also requires crutches to help with balance. Picture taken
August 18, 2008. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

That is the sound of an electronic exoskeleton moving the 41-year-old's legs
and propelling him forward -- with a proud expression on his face -- as
passersby stare in surprise.

"I never dreamed I would walk again. After I was wounded, I forgot what it's
like," said Kaiof, who was injured while serving in the Israeli military in
1988.

"Only when standing up can I feel how tall I really am and speak to people
eye to eye, not from below."

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 comic hero Iron Man, ReWalk helps paraplegics -- people paralyzed below
the waist -- to stand, walk and climb stairs.

Goffer himself was paralyzed in an accident in 1997 but he cannot use his own
invention because he does not have full function of his arms.

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.

The user picks a setting with a remote control wrist band -- stand, sit,
walk, descend or climb -- and then leans forward, activating the body sensors
and setting the robotic legs in motion.

"It raises people out of their wheelchair and lets them stand up straight,"
Goffer said. "It's not just about health, it's also about dignity."

EYE CONTACT

Kate Parkin, director of physical and occupational therapy at NYU Medical
Centre, said it has the potential to improve a user's health in two ways.

"Physically, the body works differently when upright. You can challenge
different muscles and allow full expansion of the lungs," Parkin said.
"Psychologically, it lets people live at the upright level and make eye
contact."

Iuly Treger, deputy director of Israel's Loewenstein Rehabilitation Centre,
said: "It may be a burdensome device, but it will be very helpful and
important for those who choose to use it."

The product, slated for commercial sale in 2010, will cost as much as the
more sophisticated wheelchairs on the market, which sell for about $20,000,
the company said.

The ReWalk is now in clinical trials in Tel Aviv's Sheba Medical Centre and
Goffer said it will soon be used in trials at the Moss Rehabilitation
Research Institute in Pennsylvania.

Competing technologies use electrical stimulation to restore function to
injured muscle, but Argo's Chief Operating Officer Oren Tamari said they will
not offer practical alternatives to wheelchairs in the foreseeable future.

Other "robot suits," like those being developed by the U.S. military or the
HAL robot of Japan's University of Tsukuba, are not suitable for paralyzed
people, he said.

(Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Mary Gabriel)