TECHNOLOGY FOR CHANGE

Robotic Legs Let Paraplegics Walk

Rebecca Kutzer-Rice | Date: 07-23-10 | Comments

A team of New Zealand researchers have created a pair of bionic legs that let paraplegics walk and even climb stairs.

For most paraplegics, being bound to a wheelchair is a life-altering sentence. Simple activities, like going to the grocery store or getting upstairs to bed, become enormously difficult tasks. Wheelchair users require ramps, elevators, and expensive healthcare, and they cannot enjoy many of the conveniences of the modern world. Rex, an innovative bionic exoskeleton developed by Auckland, New Zealand-based Rex-Bionics, is looking to change the outlook for people who don�t have use of their legs.

Rex is a pair of bionic legs that can be strapped onto the outside of the body. Controlling the machine with a joystick, a user can use the legs to walk, climb stairs, and traverse sloped surfaces. Because the legs can be worn comfortably all day, a user can complete once-difficult tasks, like walking around the block, easily.

Rex raises the user up to their natural height so that they can enjoy activities that would be tricky from a wheelchair. For example, Rex-Bionics states, users would be able to cook, attend barbeques, shoot pool and stand up for family photographs.

The bionic legs are powered by a rechargeable battery and carefully custom fitted to each user.

Increased mobility is key to better health and increased lifespan for paraplegics. According to the Rex-Bionics press release, Dr Richard Roxburgh, neurologist and Medical Adviser to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, said, "For many of my patients Rex represents the first time they�ve been able to stand up and walk for years. There are obvious immediate benefits in terms of mobility, improved social interaction and self-image. There are also likely to be major long term health and quality of life benefits through reducing the complications of being in a wheelchair all the time. I think that this will also enable people to stay well longer; this means that those who have conditions where disease modifying treatments are coming over the next five to ten years, will be in better shape when those treatments finally arrive.�

Rex-Bionics will soon be offering its product in New Zealand. After FDA approval, it will be for sale in the U.S. for a retail price of $150,000. Since most power wheelchairs are generally sold within the range of $5,000-$30,000, the price tag on the legs is quite hefty. Still, it could change the lives for many who have lost the use of their legs.