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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

#161

Post by Synaesthesia »

opinion-is-bad wrote: post #158
vidarh wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

It's just cheaper by a whole lot, like 2x and that's taking everything into account. The US is way off the scale in medical expenditure.

For example the NHS negotiates drug prices on a national basis, meaning people in the UK pay way less for medicines than in the USA.

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

#162

Post by agumonkey »

BadCookie wrote: post #137
agumonkey wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A wheelchair can be much better than nothing and still be far inferior to a potential exoskeleton. I use a wheelchair whenever I leave the house, and I am not a fan. There are so many places I cannot go: anywhere that requires stairs, the beach and most other places that are unpaved, anywhere without curb cuts, any foreign country that doesn’t have accessibility laws, anywhere with a hill that’s even a little bit ste…

Well the goal wa actually turn potential into reality. I completely agree with your argument

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

#163

Post by aprdm »

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,…

Your Team page is giving a 404, was really curious !

Great job. This is truly Amazing.

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

#164

Post by ezconnect »

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.

It looks expensive, and each machine is custom fitted to the users legs and also grows with the user. The market for it is really small to instantly lower the price.

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

#165

Post by ornornor »

jacobolus wrote: post #160
ornornor wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 dispensin…

Yes that’s the one. I wasn’t aware it expired this year but that’s good news!

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

#166

Post by Kosirich »

big_curses wrote: post #116
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.

Why abolish patents rather than just fix their implementation? Patents are very important. Without them, incentive to bring things to market falls as all your hard work of designing and creating something can just immediately be taken and reused by others. This encourages everyone to sit around and wait for others to make something first, and then punishes the one who does. Why not instead rework patents so that they…

Is 20 years a bit much though?

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

#167

Post by kolinko »

teruakohatu wrote: post #157
jandrese wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

I saw one or two in Warsaw recently.

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

#169

Post by IshKebab »

anonymousDan wrote: post #101
the_lonely_road wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is its the same thing limiting everything else. Power. Batteries more specifically. We just don't have a way to power anything for very long that doesn't have a cable attached to a wall attached to a power station. Honestly the ability for humans (and other living creatures) to just DO SO MUCH on just a little bio mass each day is astounding.

I'm sure this has already been thought of but is there much value in using capacitors to capture kinetic energy from the exoskeletons natural movement?

No there isn't. You'd recover almost no energy.

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

#170

Post by ricopags »

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,…

Congrats on the amazing product! A minor note on the website:

https://imgur.com/I6KA5uQ

That's too much getting in my face without giving me a chance to browse.

If I'm visiting the website, I'm probably going to be able to answer some of those questions without having these distracting offers thrown into my face immediately.

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