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Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk

reuters.com

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Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk

#91

Post by MitPitt »

nemo44x wrote: post #88
MitPitt wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By this logic, any medicine is ableist. Are we dehumanizing people with flesh wounds by sewing them up and stopping the bleeding?

I don't think so, and I think that's sort of a different thing. I believe the original ideas around this go back to when a child is born with ambiguous sex organs. Parents and doctors would then choose to "correct" the issue to ensure the baby is either a boy or a girl, when in actuality it may have chromosome's that are not XX or XY. So then this (which is actually a really interesting debate) has cascaded into the…

If by adapting (for example) blind people into society they mean writing in braille everywhere and so on, then it's the same as if correcting their disability. An exo-exo-skeleton, extended to the whole society.

So it's just demagoguery.

Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk

#92

Post by pkaye »

manmeet wrote: post #63

This is amazing. I built one to help my nephew walk, and now selling commercially ( http://trexorobotics.com ) I am fed-up at the lack of options available to individuals. People thought that everyone will get an exoskeleton and be able to walk with it everywhere. But the industry ran into many challenges. A big one that many dont understand is getting insurance coverage. The way the US healthcare system is designed,…

I'm curious why it is so expensive though. Its works out to $36k paid over 3 years to own it.

Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk

#93

Post by stronglikedan »

sli wrote: post #89
sillysaurusx wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talk about impactful work. I wonder how many lives you've changed. Well done. This is something close to miracle tech, at least for the people wearing it. I can't help but feel curious whether they're a viable alternative to wheelchairs, or if it's a temporary feeling (kind of like riding on a rollercoaster, in that you go and do it for the experience and then return to your normal life). But that's just my ignorance…

> Talk about impactful work. I wonder how many lives you've changed. $1000/mo for a rental. People without insurance need not apply.

Everyone in the US has access to health insurance under Obamacare. Whether or not health insures will pay $1000/mo is a different issue.

Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk

#94

Post by stronglikedan »

pkaye wrote: post #92
manmeet wrote: post #63

This is amazing. I built one to help my nephew walk, and now selling commercially ( http://trexorobotics.com ) I am fed-up at the lack of options available to individuals. People thought that everyone will get an exoskeleton and be able to walk with it everywhere. But the industry ran into many challenges. A big one that many dont understand is getting insurance coverage. The way the US healthcare system is designed,…

I'm curious why it is so expensive though. Its works out to $36k paid over 3 years to own it.

Aren't most things overly expensive in the beginning, until the company can make enough profit to ramp up production? Tesla cars come to mind.

Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk

#95

Post by Broken_Hippo »

sli wrote: post #89
sillysaurusx wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talk about impactful work. I wonder how many lives you've changed. Well done. This is something close to miracle tech, at least for the people wearing it. I can't help but feel curious whether they're a viable alternative to wheelchairs, or if it's a temporary feeling (kind of like riding on a rollercoaster, in that you go and do it for the experience and then return to your normal life). But that's just my ignorance…

> Talk about impactful work. I wonder how many lives you've changed. $1000/mo for a rental. People without insurance need not apply.

It doesn't always need to be expensive, but it also isn't always inexpensive upfront. And the comment you reply to makes a plea about the price.

Price doesn't mean you haven't changed a lot of lives either: In addition, a lot of folks that can't walk are covered by some sort of government-provided insurance. Unfortunately, it doesn't really help all that much because insurance limitations don't always cover everything or cover enough.

I'll also say that it is a lot for a single person/family: It isn't nearly as much at a daycare, school, physical therapy and other such things. I'd not be surprised if such places weren't their most common home.

Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk

#96

Post by nine_k »

chime wrote: post #76
manmeet wrote: post #63

This is amazing. I built one to help my nephew walk, and now selling commercially ( http://trexorobotics.com ) I am fed-up at the lack of options available to individuals. People thought that everyone will get an exoskeleton and be able to walk with it everywhere. But the industry ran into many challenges. A big one that many dont understand is getting insurance coverage. The way the US healthcare system is designed,…

> So, from their perspective, a wheelchair and some pain meds can do the job easily. And not even a good wheelchair. For my wife recently diagnosed with MS, they would only approve of a basic, featureless, uncomfortable one after I would pay the $3000 deductible plus 20% coinsurance. Instead, I got a light-weight folding electric wheelchair with nearly full-day worth of battery (15 miles), with a spare battery, adjus…

Great thing it works this way for mechanical tech.

For chemicals, that is, medicines, paying out of pocket is not impossible, but much harder. The $1500 you invested will likely last a number of years. Or it might be a month worth of prescription drugs; cheap generics do not exist for everything (and may sometimes be inferior).

I don't know a good way out of it. The U.S. medical insurance system sucks, but my friends from Germany and Netherlands report that theirs is even worse at providing any remotely advanced treatment.

Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk

#97

Post by [deleted] »

chime wrote: post #76
manmeet wrote: post #63

This is amazing. I built one to help my nephew walk, and now selling commercially ( http://trexorobotics.com ) I am fed-up at the lack of options available to individuals. People thought that everyone will get an exoskeleton and be able to walk with it everywhere. But the industry ran into many challenges. A big one that many dont understand is getting insurance coverage. The way the US healthcare system is designed,…

> So, from their perspective, a wheelchair and some pain meds can do the job easily. And not even a good wheelchair. For my wife recently diagnosed with MS, they would only approve of a basic, featureless, uncomfortable one after I would pay the $3000 deductible plus 20% coinsurance. Instead, I got a light-weight folding electric wheelchair with nearly full-day worth of battery (15 miles), with a spare battery, adjus…

[deleted]

Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk

#98

Post by anonymousDan »

dr_orpheus wrote: post #59
dogorman wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might there be merit to a semi-tethered approach? Enough onboard batteries to last a minute or two when you walk to another room, where you promptly plug in again?

Semi-tethered approach would probably be good for being able to use around the house. And I think this would be consistent with other medical equipment. Some people who require oxygen often have a very large oxygen machine at home with a long cord so they can move around the house, but have to carry portable machines when they are not home. The portable exoskeleton is a pretty big leap though. I think in order to hav…

Or for added convenience, what if you had something like a roomba that followed you around the house and plugged in to a socket in the room on one end and to the exoskeleton frame on the other end without any manual intervention on your part?

Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk

#99

Post by agumonkey »

hnthrowaway353 wrote: post #87
agumonkey wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm near ready to start a workshop, I think we ought to make these kind of things more prevalent, a lot of money is lost on ultra expensive medical devices with really low value (wheelchairs or similar) giving someone an exoskeleton might be something much more joyful and inspiring than a wheelchair, it can revive your life

My wife is a wheelchair user and it makes me sad to hear that some think her chair has low value, when it's very valuable to us. She can chase after our 15 month toddler without ever getting tired, she can cruise at 6 mph with no problems, and she's quite happy with her life. An exoskeleton wouldn't let her do any of those things and would significantly reduce her quality of life.

well i'm dumbfounded, I'd honestly thought an exoskeleton would make people like her happier

i never meant to deny your own experience, I was mostly sad about the high cost and limits of a wheel chair.

Re: Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk

#100

Post by fencepost »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #74
manmeet wrote: post #63

This is amazing. I built one to help my nephew walk, and now selling commercially ( http://trexorobotics.com ) I am fed-up at the lack of options available to individuals. People thought that everyone will get an exoskeleton and be able to walk with it everywhere. But the industry ran into many challenges. A big one that many dont understand is getting insurance coverage. The way the US healthcare system is designed,…

Talk about impactful work. I wonder how many lives you've changed. Well done. This is something close to miracle tech, at least for the people wearing it. I can't help but feel curious whether they're a viable alternative to wheelchairs, or if it's a temporary feeling (kind of like riding on a rollercoaster, in that you go and do it for the experience and then return to your normal life). But that's just my ignorance…

I used to be on that. I can't afford it because no insurance

If/when anyone runs into this regarding medications, be aware that even without insurance many pharmacies (at least in chains) have significant lists of medications available at very little or no charge. Companies like GoodRX can also lead to much lower prices, particularly on generics.

Meijer has free antibiotics and prenatal vitamins.

Walmart has a variety of medications for many conditions at $4 for 30 days and $10 for 90, as well as inexpensive insulin options (discussed here on HN within the last month or two - maybe not preferred fastest-acting options, but certainly better than 'rationing hoping I don't die')

Walgreens has a prescription savings club for $20-35/year that has 30-90 day supplies of generics at various price points between $5-15 for 30-day supplies and 10-30 for 90 day supplies

CVS has some kind of system that I didn't create an account to look at but is likely similar.

Costco has a Member Prescription Program and has all their medication prices available on the site, and the pharmacy can be used for prescriptions even without a membership.

Kroger has a prescription savings club linked to GoodRX that has prescriptions at $0/3/6/9, with a membership of $36/72 year individual/family.

None of these plans are going to cover the medications being advertised on TV, but they're going to provide coverage for a lot of long-term proven generics that treat conditions that have been around as long as humans have. They may not be AS effective (or perhaps they just lack marketing budgets), but if they weren't at least SOMEWHAT effective they wouldn't still be around as generics.

And if you've read this far and are interested in other information on keeping medical care less expensive, I highly recommend looking up the Arm and a Leg Show podcast for a lot of useful information.

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