Ekso Bionics (Berkeley, CA) has recently delivered the ready-to-wear, battery-powered Ekso exoskeleton to its first customer, the Craig Hospital in Denver, an institution dedicated to spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation. The Ekso system is strapped on to the user over clothing, enabling paraplegics to stand and walk.  The company will deliver more units over the next few months.

While the unit weighs in at 45 pounds, it is transferred to the ground rather than to the patient. The system can accommodate most patients who weigh 220 or less and who are between 5’2” and 6’2” in height.

The company, which was founded in 2005, has been supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Defense and has benefited from collaboration with researchers at UC Berkeley. In addition, the firm has licensed HULC technology from Lockheed Martin.

The company also partnered with rehabilitation centers across the United States to complete a ten-month investigational study on 63 subjects who passed a preliminary health screening.

The company’s exoskeleton technology recently wowed the audience in attendance at the recentFutureMed event. Check out this excerpt from that presentation:

Post da Vinci surgery

Robots could be used in the OR to replace scrub nurses, who pass surgical tools to surgeons. Nurses have more important things to do, like interacting with patients - Dr. Satava

12 degree of freedom prosthetic arm from Lego components

The hand movements are powered using Lego pneumatics while the wrist pronation/supination, wrist flexion/extension, and elbow flexion/extension are powered by Lego motors. It is controlled by a set of simple joysticks and switches, and the pneumatic actuators can be driven via a Lego air compressor or a series of hand pumps.

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Developed by engineering student Max Shepherd.