Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk
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Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk
#2> "Ten years from now, there will be no, or far fewer, wheelchairs," he said.
I wonder how much money he'll put on that.
Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk
#3I've been making my own, purely as a pipe-dream to have some hope of walking again, it's not easy but I'm hoping it'll be a better fit than consumer ones, and probably cheaper.
I feel like we've made leaps and bounds in prosthetics this past decade but orthotics and exoskeletons haven't been following the trend for some reason. As an engineer I imagine there are some significant design constraints that make it hard but seeing what we're capable of doing in any other industry I can't help but feel the problem has to be something other than purely technical limitations. The price is also a big issue, 10k for the cheapest exoskeletons, 150k for the one in this article.
Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk
#4> "Ten years from now, there will be no, or far fewer, wheelchairs," he said. I wonder how much money he'll put on that.
if battery technology keeps improving, I'm not sure why that wouldn't be the case for people with long term disablities
Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk
#5> "Ten years from now, there will be no, or far fewer, wheelchairs," he said. I wonder how much money he'll put on that.
Ten years seems fast, but I foresee a revolution in local micro manufacture that is a mashup of 3d printing as we know it and local assembly of off the shelf parts.
This will lead to a revolution of generic complex product availability that ignores patents and trademarks.
An exoskeleton may not be the first type of product to be ordered and assembled from a few blocks away. The amount of QA for safety would need to be high.
However, if the price of such things is 1/10 or even 1/20th that of the branded, official version people will continue to turn to hyperlocal, small-run manufacture for even the most safety-critical products.
Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk
#6This is kind of dangerous. Something like this that is not tested can pretty much kill you if it fails in anyway. You’ll just fall to the ground from about 5 ft, which is often enough to do something bad to your skull.
Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk
#7> "Ten years from now, there will be no, or far fewer, wheelchairs," he said. I wonder how much money he'll put on that.
I share your skepticism but I wouldn't question the conviction of a guy who built a company and worked on this project for 10 years to help his son walk again.
Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk
#8This is kind of dangerous. Something like this that is not tested can pretty much kill you if it fails in anyway. You’ll just fall to the ground from about 5 ft, which is often enough to do something bad to your skull.
The medical device industry in France is heavily regulated and products are audited before they reach the market so you can be sure it's a risk that's been identified and remediated.
Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk
#9This is kind of dangerous. Something like this that is not tested can pretty much kill you if it fails in anyway. You’ll just fall to the ground from about 5 ft, which is often enough to do something bad to your skull.
A lot of things are dangerous. Some people would be quite willing to accept that risk so they can walk again.
Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk
#10This is kind of dangerous. Something like this that is not tested can pretty much kill you if it fails in anyway. You’ll just fall to the ground from about 5 ft, which is often enough to do something bad to your skull.
My mother can no longer walk due to an inoperable bone spur that has destroyed her tendons. She’s 75. She’s risk death and injury to walk again.