Boy Walks With Help of A Robotic Exoskeleton his Father Designed
Though it’s not quite as fantastic as Iron Man’s super-powered exoskeleton, a robotic exoskeleton designed by his father’s company helps 16 year old Oscar Constanza to walk. Oscar has a genetic neurological condition that means his nerves do not send enough signals to his legs.
Fastened to his shoulders, chest, waist, knees and feet, the exoskeleton enables Oscar to walk across the room and turn around. The exoskeleton is a voice-operated robot, responding to the user’s verbal commands, rather than other designs which respond to user movements or nerve signals.
“Before, I needed someone to help me walk … this makes me feel independent,” said Oscar.
His father Jean-Louis Constanza is one of the co-founders of the company that makes the exoskeleton, which is called Atalante.
“One day Oscar said to me: ‘dad, you’re a robotic engineer, why don’t you make a robot that would allow us to walk?’” his father recounted
“Ten years from now, there will be no, or far fewer, wheelchairs,” he said.
Exoskeletons are being produced around the world, with a wide variety of applications including, the military, industrial work and in healthcare to help nurses move and position patients. During the COVID pandemic, they have even been evaluated for use in the physically taxing task of prone positioning of COVID patients in ICU wards. Some, like Wandercraft’s model, are designed to help people with mobility problems to walk.
Since most are still quite heavy, manufacturers are competing to make them as light and usable as possible.
Wandercraft’s Atalante exoskeleton, which is an outer frame that supports but also simulates the movement of the wearer’s body, has been sold to dozens of hospitals in France, Luxembourg and the United States, with a unit price of about $176 000, said Constanza. The Atalante exoskeleton is currently aimed at use in physical rehabilitation in stroke and spinal cord injury patients.
At the moment, it cannot be bought by private individuals for everyday use – but the Wandercraft engineers are working on this as the design would need to be much lighter.
Source: New York Post
