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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

#151

Post by rubicon33 »

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,…

What a truly awesome product and mission. Inspiring, to say the least. Are you hiring software engineers?

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

#153

Post by throwaway69123 »

ryeguy_24 wrote: post #84

I have a 3.5 year-old and just had twins. A story like this makes me feel very warm inside. Being a relatively new father, I'm beginning to understand the unconditional love and sacrifice that grows when you have kids. I commend this father for doing this. He is a modern day hero.

It got me good.

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

#154

Post by R0b0t1 »

KONAir wrote: post #66
ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine it's part of it, but even when you look at unpowered devices there seems to have been shockingly little innovation when you compare what was available in the 1800s and today. It's still a few flatbars with leather/velcro fasteners, the main improvement has been with materials like carbon fiber to lower the weight but that's about it. There's some interesting patents like air cushions to improve fit and some…

-I have next to no clue what I am talking about- Wouldn't a "wheelchair as powerbank" be the best solution to get people as mobile as possible?

It's not bad. Then you just have the issue of the cost of the batteries.

It's possible to have the device be corded and stay within a room or set of rooms.

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

#155

Post by zuminator »

nemo44x wrote: post #110
CTmystery wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you genuinely curious or do you have an axe to grind? Have you seen anyone accuse such an invention as ableist? This is exactly what new technology is supposed to do: make things possible that were previously difficult or impossible. I don't see how any of the culture wars in vogue have anything to do with it.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-and-philosop...

1) Anyone can take a controversial position. But I'd want to read something more than a rather minimal Psychology Today article to conclude that this is indicative of "today's culture" and not just an opinion of a fringe minority.

2) In any event the deaf community is rather unique compared with other disabled groups in general. A substantial number of deaf/hearing impaired people are born that way and grow up in a community with its own language and culture, a community that would be for better or worse disrupted by a "cure." Other disabled groups tend not to have a separate strong cultural identity as such. It is true that there are instances of individual blind people who were "cured" of blindness and found the experience so disorienting that they fell into a deep depression [0], but as far as I know, they didn't advocate for an end to blindness research.

[0] https://www.npr.org/transcripts/10382528

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

#156

Post by egypturnash »

optymizer wrote: post #83
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 was looking at the videos, and realized that maybe we don't need small exo-bones (societal expectations and normalcy aside), maybe it's easier to go the other way and make exo-robots, since they'd be bigger with more room for batteries, could balance on their own and a human could be sitting/standing inside, driving the legs with some input method - either with legs, or hand gestures. I'm picturing the robot in Ava…

So basically The Wrong Trousers [1] except without the remote control that falls into the hand of an evil penguin disguised as a rooster.

1: https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1386220/wallace-gromits-wron...

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

#157

Post by teruakohatu »

jandrese wrote: post #80
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 had thought when the Segway came out that a wheelchair version would follow shortly afterward where a person without functional legs could get on a saddle and move around quickly and at a typical human height so things on shelves aren't such a problem. Segway hit the market 20 years ago and it still has not happened. I get that there are a number of complications (getting on and off is a challenge), but it seems li…

Not long ago I saw a guy in a Segway-like wheel chair. It looked just like a regular wheelchair, with two wheels on each side. I spoke the owner and he loved it.

Here is a Segway converted to a wheelchair here in New Zealand:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/small-business/70065350/han...

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

#158

Post by opinion-is-bad »

vidarh wrote: post #126
nightfly wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds _really_ good, and kind of blows a big hole in a lot of arguments against universal health care. I pay more than that monthly for relatively basic medication and that's _with_ pretty good employer-funded insurance

It gets better/worse. NHS provides universal cover for a lower per capita cost than Medicare/Medicaid covers the portion of the US population it covers.

Isn’t that a bit unfair of a comparison, since Medicare disproportionately covers the elderly who have higher medical costs, while the NHS serves the whole population?

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

#160

Post by jacobolus »

ornornor wrote: post #119
devwastaken wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget patents. You yourself can create whatever you want, but the second you want to sell it you have to have a patent law firm scour over everything, pay dozens of companies, get rejected by others, and end up having to entirely redesign your product in an inefficient manner because some dipstick owns a patent they just sit on. If we abolish patents innovation will finally be possible.

3D printers are a good example that I recently came across. There is a patent for a 3D printer enclosed in a box. A number of plastics print much better when in an enclosure with no drafts and more easily controllable temperatures. But instead, 3D printers must be sold and function on their own without a box, to avoid the patent. Enclosures are then sold separately and you end up with a 3D printer in an enclosure any…

> 3D printer enclosed in a box [...] instead [...]

I assume you are talking about this Stratasys patent that expired earlier this year, https://patents.google.com/patent/US6722872

> 1. A three-dimensional modeling apparatus comprising a heated build chamber in which three-dimensional objects are built, a base located in the build chamber, a dispensing head for dispensing modeling material onto the base, the dispensing head having a modeling material dispensing outlet inside of the build chamber, and an x-y-z gantry coupled to the dispensing head and to the base for generating relative movement in three-dimensions between the dispensing head and the base, characterized in that: the x-y-z gantry is located external to the build chamber and is separated from the chamber by a deformable thermal insulator. [...]

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