This is a robot that one wears so people who have been paralyzed will have the 
potential to be able to walk again. It has an on board computer and it easy for the patient to put on. This is fascinating to watch and the video explains the design.
The body remembers with the muscles and is slated to sell for around $100k but I will be a while before one is available to take home. Imagine someone who has not been able to walk for years and has been in a wheelchair. This is one device to watch for sure as if you couple this with some of the new surgical techniques being developed today for spinal repair and with stem cells, there could be far less people in the future having to spend their days in wheelchairs.
Geron Gets FDA Approval To Resume Stem-Cell Study - Spinal Cord Injuries - Go UC Irvine!
If you have not seen the post above with the video with stem cells and spinal rehabilitation it’s worth the watch. BD
Amanda Boxtel, a wheelchair user, is about to stand up. A skiing accident 18 years ago partially severed her spinal cord leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. She slowly pushes herself out of the chair with crutches, teeters backward for a second, then leans forward – and takes a step. Soon she is walking around the warehouse in Berkeley, California, under her own direction.
Boxtel is wearing a new exoskeleton called eLEGS, which could soon help people with spinal injuries to walk with a natural gait. "Walking with eLEGs took some rewiring and relearning," says Boxtel, "but my body has the muscle memory. And I learned to walk really fast."
The suit consists of a backpack-mounted controller connected to robotic legs. It is driven by four motors, one for each hip and knee. The ankle joint is controlled with passive springs that keep the foot angled so that it can be placed on the ground, heel to toe, as the leg steps. Sensors in the legs relay position information to the control unit, which determines how to bend the joints and, in turn, walk. Onboard lithium-cobalt batteries allow the suit to be operated without a tether to a power source.
The company plans to begin clinical trials in early 2011, and estimates the cost on the market to be in line with that of a high-end wheelchair, around $100,000.
Exoskeleton helps the paralysed walk again - tech - 07 October 2010 - New Scientist
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