Publicado el 20/05/2014
Existant en version civile et militaire, l’exosquelette Hercule vise à assister son opérateur au port et à la manipulation de charges lourdes. Son atout : Il décuple la capacité de la personne qui s’équipe.
Ce reportage est un extrait du magazine TV « Journal de la Défense » d’avril 2014, intitulé « 100% innovation dans les armées
Source: ministeredeladefense France
Publicado el 21/05/2014
CTO of Rex Bionics Richard Little and user Sophie Morgan talk about paralysis, doing The Robot and stepping into the future with Rex.
Visit http://www.rexbionics.com for more information
Publicado el 20/05/2014
Rex Bionics ambassador Sophie Morgan and her brother Tom talk to ITV Breakfast news about how Rex has changed their lives.
Visit http://www.rexbionics.com for more information
(Bloomberg) — Nathan Harding, co-founder and CEO of Ekso Bionics, discusses the company’s wearable bionic suit that helps people with paralysis learn how to be mobile and even walk again. He speaks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Ekso and i’m seeing the real thing.
I have to begin by putting it to you, this is like the beyondionic world come to life, isn’t it?
We think it is.
We think we are at the forefront.
It’s starting with things like this.
You will see people running faster, jumping higher.
Described the ekso suit to somebody who does not know about this kind of stuff.
This is called the human exoskeleton.
It is essentially a wearable robot.
We are all about augmenting strength and endurance.
To do that you have to wrap the machine around the person.
This particular wearable robot is for rehabilitation.
It replaces the strength of your hips and knees with these two motors for your hips and these two motors for the knees.
It is set up so that i can be rapidly adjustments with quick adjustments here and here.
The batteries can be change very fast.
I can get from one patient to another in a short time.
What is the next up for ekso?
What would you like to accomplish in the next 12 months?
When we set our goals and 2014, we wanted to make a couple of big hires in sales and marketing.
We have done that.
We wanted to get a couple of big contracts into the ekso labs group that does research to pay for the human exoskeleton, and we got the talos program now from special operations.
That is the first contractor in the world to get a contract from that program.
It’s fantastic.
We have one more to do on that one.
We also want to get another licensing partner.
We have a great one with lockheed martin right now, and we want another big name.
And then we want to get 10
Ekso exoskeletal suit with white 3D-printed prats.
Talk about a step into the future… Exoskeletal robots, once the domain of science fiction, are now helping people in need rise from their wheelchairs. One day in the not-so-distant future, they may replace wheelchairs all together. Imagine being able to stand tall and walk again after months or years in a chair. It must be an unbelievable feeling, a new kind of freedom.
These robotic exoskeletons become the new musculature for the people who use them, and like each unique body, each exoskeleton requires its own fittings and its own interface with the person that it supports. This need — to naturally connect exoskeleton and person — sparked a recent collaboration between Ekso Bionics™ and 3D Systems.
Ekso Bionics, a California-based company, has been a pioneer in engineering robotic exoskeleton suits since 2005. Today their exoskeletons are some of the most forward-thinking designs in the world for people looking to supplement their mobility. One by one, Ekso is helping people rethink physical limitations, and we at 3D Systems wanted to drive that mission even further by creating 3D-printed parts that would enhance the connection between body and Ekso robotic. Together, we wanted to make the exoskeletal robot personal.
Connecting Man and Machine
3D-printed thigh sections of the Ekso suit
“The first time that I donned Ekso, I strapped the device on and I stood up. That was a defining moment,” says Amanda Boxtel in a video by Ekso Bionics. Amanda suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury on a snowy Colorado ski slope more than 20 years ago and has been in a wheelchair ever since — until Ekso Bionics made her a test pilot for its exoskeletal suit. After meeting her, 3D Systems CEO Avi Reichental offered to have her Ekso refitted with 3D-printed components, and the project began in earnest.
The goal was to create customized parts that could hold the body in specific locations to provide balance and support while carefully avoiding areas prone to bruising. At the same time, the interstitial parts had to minimize the time required to put on and take off the suit. The 3D-printed parts also had to be strong enough to hold the body in various states and remain flexible enough to provide comfort.
To create these customized parts, 3D Systems designers Scott Summit and Gustavo Fricke first scanned Amanda from head to toe. They used the resulting 3D model to create personalized CAD models for components at specific points on the suit — the shins, thighs, and spine. Scanning allowed them to create an even distribution of pressure about the musculature of the legs, which are highly sensitive to uneven pressure despite the lack of tactile sensation. Summit and Fricke also modeled the spinal support as a digital average between standing and seated scans, so it could conform accurately and comfortably to the upper body regardless of position.
3D-printed back support
Aesthetics were also an important consideration. In this regard, the design team sought to visually link Amanda’s body with the Ekso suit. You can see that the pieces incorporate some beautiful design elements such as smooth curves, complex patterns, and muscle-like strands. Moreover, the filigree pattern allows the skin to ventilate, which reduces sweat buildup, reducing the friction and risk of infection. Fricke and Summit even designed handles within the 3D-printed forms disguised to diminish the connotations that come along with the visual handle.
Having created CAD models of each component, the design team 3D printed prototypes overnight to test for fit and function, and to make any necessary alterations. After all, you can spend all day designing digitally, but testing designs in the real world is invaluable. Once they concluded this iterative design process, the final parts were 3D printed using 3D Systems Selective Laser Sintering technology, which was chosen specifically for its ability to produce lightweight, robust parts.
The team replaced the Velcro straps that previously supported Amanda in the Ekso suit with these new 3D printed elements. As you can see in the pictures, the designs are quite stunning, and they looked even better when Amanda debuted the hybrid exoskeleton in November 2013, as she stood tall on a stage in Budapest and walked.
Moving Forward
Amanda walking tall in Budapest
“This project represents the triumph of human creativity and technology,” Amanda said. “I am deeply grateful and thrilled.” We expect this triumph and many like it to follow in the future. This project demonstrates that with the prevalence of 3D scanning, design and 3D printing tools, we can do the impossible.
With handheld scanning tools, like the Sense scanner, and a process that incorporates customizable but template-driven design for mass manufacturing, projects like this can become feasible on a large scale. 3D printing brings that to the table: the ability to both localize and customize while producing for the masses. In the instance of personalized medicine, as with this Ekso suit, that combination means better, personalized patient care and a higher quality of life around the world.
This project tells us that more good things are coming. Amanda’s suit is only the beginning.
Source: Makezine
Gene Laureano walks using a ReWalk robotic exoskeleton at the Argo Medical Technology office with CEO Larry Jasinski in Marlboro on Thursday. (T&G Staff Photos/RICK CINCLAIR)
MARLBORO — Gene Laureano rolls his wheelchair next to an upholstered office chair holding a device that looks like a combination back and leg brace, and with one thrust of his arms transfers his body out of the wheelchair and into the contraption.
A 51-year-old who served in the Army and has been paralyzed from about the waist down since 2001, Mr. Laureano straps himself into the device with Velcro flaps and lifts his feet into white sneakers attached to the leg braces.
With a battery tucked into a backpack and a wristwatch-like control device strapped around his left wrist, he fits his arms into crutches and, with a whirring sound emanating from the devices, stands up to his full 6-foot-3-inch height.
“You get to see the tallness, the height,” said his wife of 32 years, Maria, looking on in the offices of Argo Medical Technologies Inc., developer of the device. “I’d forgotten all that.”
With some assistance, Gene Laureano transfers himself from his wheelchair to the ReWalk robotic exoskeleton at the Argo office. (T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR)
The robotic exoskeleton, known as ReWalk, and other wearable machines like it are in the works in academic and corporate laboratories around the world, spurred on by technological advances and supported by research that shows the benefits of getting people with temporary or permanent paralysis up and walking.
University of California researchers have created technology for bionic suits that are being developed with defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. to help soldiers carry heavy loads. The California researchers’ discoveries have also gone into small company Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc., which has used the breakthroughs to create bionic suits for use in rehabilitation centers.
In Nashville, Tenn., Vanderbilt University engineers have partnered with Parker Hannifin Corp. to produce a robotic suit that snaps apart so a user can tote it around in a bag or even wear it onto an airplane. Japanese companies, including carmakers, are also testing robots.
“We spent a long time in society really helping people survive, which is pretty awesome, but now it’s time, I think, to do something different,” said Dr. Ross D. Zafonte, vice president of medical affairs for Spaulding Rehabilitation Network of Boston. “I think we’re on the verge of that, and that’s really helping people function and getting to a different level of capability.”
An estimated 273,000 people in the United States had spinal cord injuries in 2013, according to the most recent information from the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center at the University of Alabama. Most of those injured are men, and many are between ages 16 and 30. The most common cause of injuries is vehicle accidents.
Other people lose the ability to walk because of stroke and diseases that damage the central nervous system.
The estimated lifetime cost of care for a person with paraplegia, or an inability to voluntarily move the lower half of the body, is more than $2.2 million, according to the spinal cord center. Paralysis, research shows, can lead to thinning bones, damaged skin and obesity from constantly sitting, depression and a host of other costly medical problems.
The market for robotic devices for people with paraplegia could be worth more than $1 billion in 10 years, said Larry J. Jasinski, chief executive of Argo, which was founded in Israel.
It’s “a wonderful medical outcome and a tremendous business potential,” Mr. Jasinski said.
Robotic exoskeletons rely on physical components that brace a patient’s body, batteries to power the robotic components and software to translate what the patient wants to do.
Argo Medical Technologies Inc. CEO Larry J. Jasinski of Southboro stands near ReWalk legs at the company’s Marlboro office. (T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG)
Argo’s ReWalk system moves when patients lean forward.
“Normally when you walk, your trunk leans forward and you step,” said Dr. Alberto Esquenazi, who helped develop ReWalk and is chief medical officer for MossRehab, which is part of the Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia. “By taking precisely that movement and embedding a system that detects it, you can have a person trigger the stepping pattern.”
Some developers have aimed their bionic walkers at the institutional market, at least initially, while others are aiming to create something individuals will buy. Regardless of the market, the devices are not cheap. Ekso Bionics sells its device to rehabilitation facilities for about $110,000. Argo sells ReWalk to individuals in Europe for about €52,500, or about $72,000, and expects to sell ReWalk in the United States for about $65,000 to $68,000, according to Mr. Jasinski.
Parker Hannefin’s Indego, invented at Vanderbilt, is still under development but is aimed squarely at individuals. The battery fits into a piece that fits across the user’s back, said Michael Goldfarb, professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt. Individuals can control movement with one hand, leaving them free to open doors. Mr. Goldfarb is also working on adding electrical stimulation to the device, something that might help patients’ limbs.
Eventually, people with paralysis may have a number of bionic devices to choose from, depending on their medical needs and personal preferences.
“There’s a decent amount of heterogeneity in the population of people with spinal cord injury,” Mr. Goldfarb said. “Some of those systems are going to be better suited to some people, and other systems are going to be better suited to other people.”
It was a fall from a ladder that led to Mr. Laureano’s slide into paralysis. In addition to the injury, doctors found the Bronx resident suffered from syringomyelia, a condition in which a cyst in the spinal cord compresses and damages nerves.
While undergoing treatment at the James J. Peters Veterans Administration Medical Center in the Bronx in late 2012, Mr. Laureano was invited to participate in a clinical study. As he rolled through the center where the studies took place, he said during a recent visit to ReWalk offices in Marlboro, he saw “this robot thing with sneakers. I wasn’t moving. I wanted to know, what’s this about?”
He started participating in a ReWalk trial in 2013. He has since spent about 80 training sessions in the device, some inside and some outside. Before the trial, his son, now 13, had never seen him standing.
“When I first put it on, I was excited. I was emotional, to look at the trainer eye to eye,” Mr. Laureano said. “I can reach things. I can make coffee with it. I’m at a loss for words. I’m really into it.”
Publicado el 03/04/2014
Sophie Morgan discusses the benefits of using REX Personal, the world’s first hands-free, self-supporting robotic exoskeleton.
Can REX work for you? Find out here: REX Rehab™ » REX Personal™ »
If you would like more information about Rex Bionics, please visit our website at http://www.rexbionics.com, or you can email info@rexbionics.com
Robotics 