Welcome to the Exoskeleton Suit blog.
I’m Michael, and in this first blog post you can find:
A round-up of information and links to exoskeleton suit articles, news and web pages from around the world
One of the most prominent recent news articles has been about the Rewalk Exoskeleton Suit, and I’ll be bringing you more information on that as the story develops. Here is a link to the New York Times story in February 2010 on the Rewalk Exoskeleton Suit:
Rewalk Exoskeleton Suit in the New York Times
And here is another version of this story, from an Israeli news site:
Exoskeleton Suit report from Israel
Finally, here’s the ABC News take on the story:
Robotic Suit News Report from ABC
All of the above reports were about the Rewalk Exoskeleton Suit, which is under development. Latest reports indicate that FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) is expected to approve the suit some time in 2010 with it becoming available commercially after that. I have no links to this company and I am not promoting their products, but at the time of writing this is the only exoskeleton suit that is said to be commercially viable AT THIS TIME.
Of course, that could change at any time and I will be keeping this site updated with news as it develops.
Meanwhile, here is a link to the website of the manufacturer whose suit is featured in all the above reports:
Argo Medical Technologies
Argo Medical Technologies, of Haifa, Israel
There are other organisations involved in developing robotic exoskeleton suits, but arguably not as close to a releasing a commercial product. Here are a couple of them:
“They Shall Walk”
“They Shall Walk” is a non-profit medical research organisation based in Seattle. Their “Lifesuit” exoskeleton suit looks exciting but is still very much under development, and the organisation is constantly raising funds for further development and for clinical trials. At this stage there is no date for commercial availability of this suit. You can take a look at their website and also become a donating member here:
Yobotics
Yobotics is another organisation, based in Cincinnati, Ohio that has been involved in the development, in their case, a robotic leg as opposed to a full exoskeleton suit. The “RoboWalker” was developed and a prototype tested in 2001/2 and the organisation has since then been looking for funding of $5 million to bring the product to production and commercial availability. To date, no backers have been found. Here is their website:
*** Note to other companies or organizations involved in research into exoskeleton suits: This is a world-wide free and non-commercial website for information on any device that could help a wheelchair user to walk again (as opposed to purely military applications). If you are developing such a product, I need to feature it on this website so please get in touch immediately if you are not represented here. ***
Please come back regularly as I will be updating the blog and web pages as news develops. If you want me to send you an email with breaking news as it comes in, just leave your email address on the top right (I will never share your email address).
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